PRS: Master Mode Power!
by Life-Luvr123
Summary: One year ago, the Samurai destroyed Master Xandred. Now, with a powerful/ancient evil rising, the Rangers are startled to meet a Ranger lineage lost in time - the White Samurai Ranger! Now, they must unlock a new power and learn secrets long forgotten! What does her arrival mean for the Rangers? Can the team deal with saving the world and with life/love? (JaydenXOC, Memily, Kia)
1. Samurai Are Back

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning:**Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Author's Note: A quickie, I just threw the old version out there, so I hope this new and improved version is a little bit better suited. Thank you especially _**xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx _**for pointing out such things to me, and to **_ForeverCourage _**for her kind review. Why you still reading this? Get to the story people!**_

One year. Jayden looked down at the letter in disbelief. It has been one year since the defeat of Master Xandred. In that time, the Samurai Rangers had disbanded peacefully, each moving on with their lives. Jayden, the Red Ranger, seemed to be stuck. The others had moved on from the Samurai life, but there was nothing outside of being a Samurai for Jayden. Ji had introduced several skills for Jayden, such as playing guitar. That was Jayden's favorite. He liked to play deep into the night, sometimes playing off the whim chords into the starry sky. Those nights, Jayden reflected were when he missed his friends the most. Jayden had continued his Samurai training, always ready for when the Nighlok would rise again as Xandred had promised.

Jayden shook himself out of memories, and looked back down at Mia's letter. The Pink Ranger had announced that she and the others would be returning to the Shiba House for a visit. Jayden still hadn't heard from his older sister, Lauren Shiba.

"One year ago, you promised that we would see each other more often," Jayden mumbled. He gave a respective bow to the messenger and turned back to the great black doors of the Shiba House. Inside, Jayden slid behind another set of black doors, and into a commons hallway he knew so well. Jayden looked to his left and saw the table with his family seal on the center. The six green cushion-like seats made a ring around the table, and the two small bookshelves still stood as they had one year ago. Jayden smiled as the light filtered through the specially designed windows. Looking to his right, the Shogun reflected all the times he and his friends had trained in the indoor dojo. Smiling, he could almost picture the time that Mike had first downed Kevin; the Green Ranger had been so happy, and excited he had knocked over the Samurai armor statuette. On a small platform, sat the Light Zord. Jayden sighed, and began to continue down the hallway, nostalgia and loneliness clawing at his heart.

"Ji?" Jayden called, searching for his mentor. Smelling the kitchen, Jayden walked through the sliding doors, and saw Ji hunched over the stove. His mentor still had on his traditional clothes, the loose robes of the Samurai Mentor. "Ji?" Jayden spoke.

The older man turned and smiled when he saw his young charge. "Jayden! What can I do for you?"

Jayden sat down on the stool by the counter. "The others. They're coming for a visit,"

"When?"

"Tomorrow. The letter said they'll be here on the 6th.

Ji walked over to the counter and took the letter from the Red Ranger. "All of them?"

Jayden's voice made a small dip in happiness. "Except for Lauren,"

Ji smiled suddenly and looked up. "At least we can see the others, Jayden. Lauren will return when she can,"

Jayden smiled. "You're right, Ji. Now, unless you want them to be hungry when they get here, do you want help cooking?"

***MASTER MODE POWER***

The forest was always a safe place for someone to hide away. She knew this better than anyone. As she ran, she reflected that maybe having an all white camp site wasn't the best idea, but it reminded her so much of home. At least they couldn't hurt her. They couldn't afford to. Their only purpose was to push her towards them. She didn't want to put the others in danger, but it looked like she had run out of options.

Suddenly, one burst from the bushed in front of her, and snarled, its wolflike/ratlike features making her flinch. But without stopping, she fell into a front leg slide, going between the creature's legs. Her hand on her hip, she twirled and as she did so, a Spin Sword appeared, and slashed straight through the creature. It exploded, and she panted, hid her Sword once more and continued to run.

There was a faint snarling and she clutched her left bicep, and gritted her teeth. The snarling seemed to retreat, and she continued to run, her breath ragged.

***MASTER MODE POWER***

Jayden knew that Ji would want to put everything out himself, but he couldn't help insisting. "Ji, honestly, I want to help you with this,"

Jayden rolled his eyes, and put the last of the fruit on the outdoor table. The Rangers had often had celebratory barbeques out on this part of the yard. Jayden remembered how he had sat there with his team as he recovered from his first fight with Deker. Then, a more painful memory, how he had interrupted a meal to announce that Lauren was taking his place . Jayden shook off memories as car doors slammed in the distance. Smiling, he raced open to the gate, and heard several familiar voices.

"So, how was the Culinary Academy?"

"It taught me so much, and I actually passed as the top of my class! How's Serena?"

"She's doing a lot better than when Em left her, according to her family. Em and I had so many good times with her!"

"That sounds like fun. But, guys, I couldn't get into the Olympics- this time around. Next time, I will get in!"

"For now, sit back as Mia and I whip up a golden meal guys!"

"I wonder how Jayden's gotten on,"

Jayden smiled, and opened the gates. "Hey guys!"

"Jayden!" yelled Emily, Antonio, and Mia. They dropped their bags and ran towards their friend. Mia reached the Red Ranger first and threw her arms around him. Antonio was next, followed by Emily, each trapping Jayden under a flurry of arms and smiles.

Jayden laughed, happier than ever that his friends were back. The three Huggateers pulled away, and Emily bounced up and down like a little kid. "Jayden, its been so long! We all missed you!"

Jayden bumped fists with Antonio. "I missed you guys, too. You have no idea how drab it's been around her without you,"

Mike smiled as he and Kevin joined them. "I think we can all vouch for that. Hey man, things may have been slow, but also things have been quite relaxing," the others laughed their agreement.

"Come on in! Mentors got a couples things set out, and I think we have everything that Mia and Antonio need for a gourmet meal,"

The Samurai Rangers suddenly realized they were standing in a circle. Jayden smiled, and extended his hand into the center. Smiling, the others put theirs in. As one, they chanted:

**"RANGERS TOGETHER! SAMURAI FOREVER!"**

***MASTER MODE POWER***

Laying on her stomach and propped on one elbow, the girl lay on the forest floor, panting and panting. She had run most of the day, and she was exhausted. She gritted her teeth, and clutching her bicep once more, she stood and began to job, ignoring the screams of her muscles. She had to get to the others before it was too late.

***MASTER MODE POWER***

"So, yeah, um, it was a very awkward first day Emily's place," Mike summed up. Emily blushed and leaned her head on the Green Ranger's shoulder, and intertwined her hand with his.

Jayden was happy for his friends, but he couldn't escape the twinge of jealousy as he watched Emily and Mike. He had often wondered if he could have ever had a future with someone, but that was hard thing to have when you're life is the life of the Red Ranger of the Samurai Power Rangers. Especially when the only ones who knew were the Yellow Ranger who was with the Green Ranger, and a Pink Ranger who thought of you as a brother and you thought of her as a sister. Still, nothing beat being back with his friends again.

"That sounds like so much fun, guys," Jayden laughed.

"So, Jayden, what have you been up to in this year?" Mia asked, looking up from her cooking.

Jayden looked around and saw all eyes on him attentively. "Well…I kinda picked up playing the guitar…Here, let me play you the first thing I ever did on this," picking up the red electric guitar, as Jayden strummed it, like that day so long ago. Finally, he played those six beloved first notes, and as they strummed through the air, he saw the goose bumps on his friends.

"Wow," was all anyone could say. Jayden slid his guitar off of his lap, and as the silence passed, Jayden found that while no one was talking, they all enjoyed the quite of their company. Suddenly, a desperate knocking came at the door. Jayden stood, Samurai instincts kicking in. He approached the door, and heard the gravel stir as his friends followed him.

Jayden reached the door, and opened the mighty door. A girl was standing there, her breath uneasy. Jayden couldn't help but stare for a moment. The girl couldn't have been more than a year younger than him. Her caramel colored hair was full of leaves and slick to her forehead with sweat. She was wearing a form fitting white- v neck under a black jacket that while it had full sleeve, only went to about the top of her stomach. Her jeans were ripped and covered in mud, her shoes a weird winter type. They were white, and had some white and red fur on them.

"Hurry, they're almost here!"

Jayden looked at her in confusion. "Who?"

She looked up, and met his eyes, and Jayden was frozen. Her eyes were icy blue, and they were filled with fear and desperation.

"They followed me here….Hurry…" but before she could move, her eyes rolled back into her head, and Jayden lunged forward to catch her. As he did, she wouldn't react, and Jayden realized that she must have been extremely exhausted.

Turning her over so he was cradling her, Jayden crouched on the ground, and Mia rounded in front of him and grabbed the girl's wrist. She held her wrist gently, and sighed. "She still has a pulse, Jayden, but it's fast, like she's been running for a while,"

Jayden nodded, and hooking his arm under the girl's legs right behind her knees, he hoisted her up, making sure her head was resting against his shoulder. He slowly stood, and turned back to the others. "Well, I guess you guys should be here more often. Interesting things happen to the Samurai Rangers when we're all together,"

He walked quickly towards the black doors to the house, and then he heard a new voice. "Jayden?"

Turning around, he saw those familiar blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Lauren? You decide to arrive now of all times?" Jayden said jokingly. Lauren smiled, and walked towards her little brother, and stared in confusion at the girl in his arms.

"Who is she?"

Jayden was about to shrug, but he decided to speak. "I don't know. She just showed up at the gate,"

Emily stepped forward. "Do you want us to grab our morphers?" Her kind face was filled with determination, and each Ranger was standing strong, their shoulders back, eyes filled with that familiar glint, and each had some muscle clenched. Jayden put his serious face on, and knew that this girl had seen something. She had run here to warn them, and she was here now. It's time for action. He turned to Lauren and her own confused expression faded when she saw the seriousness in her brother's gaze. Lauren instantly nodded, and ran ahead of Jayden.

The Red Ranger walked a little quicker into the house as the others followed him. Mentor turned and smiled, ready to greet the Samurai once more, but that smile faded when he saw the girl in Jayden's grasp. Ji's expression turned serious. "What happened?"

"Trouble," Jayden began. He quickly walked past Ji and placed the girl on a bed in the infirmary. Turning around, Jayden's face had become one of seriousness. "This girl- before you ask, I don't know her name- he said that someone or something was following her here, and that we had to hurry,"

Ji looked at the girl, and then nodded. "I'll take care of her. Do you remember where I put the morphers?"

Jayden nodded, and jogged out of the room. "Guys, this way!" he called, barging past them heading for the main commons. Jayden heard their urgent footsteps, and fought back the rising excitement beginning to boil in his belly. It was really just like old times…almost. Lauren was with his friends. Ignoring his unease, Jayden quickly walked over to the bookshelf nearest to the doors. Grabbing a polished wooden box, Jayden opened it and gazed down at the red Samuraizers. Each had a small dot on the top of the cell phone letting him see which morpher was whose. Grabbing one, he tossed it to Kevin. Antonio received the only silver one. Mia and Emily both nodded when they caught theirs and Mike caught his with one hand. Jayden gingerly took out his own, and sensed Lauren's presence. Turning to his sister, Jayden was shocked when she grabbed his morpher.

Jayden stiffened, but relaxed, almost sadly. _Right. Lauren in the true Red Ranger. Get you head out of the clouds, Jay._ The other Rangers looked at the exchange and a new fear began to awaken in their eyes.

However, Lauren continued to stand by her brother. Jayden suddenly saw Lauren pull out a morpher from her jacket pocket. Jayden took a sharp breath when he recognized his father's morpher.

"Jayden, _you_ are the true head of the Shiba Clan, so it is only right that you should get the former Shogun's morpher. I carried it all this time hoping that, maybe I would somehow be able to make up for my failure to seal Master Xandred away. I know that you will be able to bear it with much better care than me, little brother," Lauren's blue eyes swam with tears at the mention of the Shiba sibling's father, but her voice remained steady and calm. Jayden nodded, and gently took the morpher from his sister, knowing the sacrifice that she was making.

"I won't let you down. Any of you," Jayden added, his gaze flying to his friends. The others' concerned gazes faded into joy when they realized that Jayden was their leader once more.

Kevin quickly stepped up. "I, for one, would hate to break this up, but shouldn't we be trying to figure out what that girl was talking about?"

Ji quickly entered the room. "From what I gathered by studying her wounds, it was something like a wolf. However, wolf attacks slash up and down, rarely side to side and with such precision and sharpness. She was attacked, Rangers, by this something,"

Mike's face instantly turned angry. "What? Something purposefully attacked this girl?"

Emily touched Mike's arm. "Mike, we can't protect everyone," she soothed. "But, from now on, we will protect her,"

Mia turned to the Yellow Samurai. "Emily, you're not suggesting that she stay here, are you?"

Emily shrugged. "Well, she knows who we are; how else would she have been able to find this place?" Mike nodded, and Kevin's face became dark.

"Oh, great. She knows the secret of the century," the Blue Ranger grumbled.

"Oh, Kevin lighten up. Everything _esta bien, no_?" Antonio said, with his usual ease.

Jayden glanced at ji, and saw his mentor was hiding something. Narrowing his eyes, Jayden spoke up. "Ji, what else did you find out?"

The Mentor looked hesitant, and looked away for a moment. "I also found out that-" a huge explosion rocked the house before he could answer. Jayden and the others immediately locked eyes. Nodding, the Red Ranger turned to Ji. "Protect that girl. We'll handle this; just stay inside,"

The Rangers all gathered behind Jayden, Lauren to his immediate right, and next to her were Mike, and Mia. To Jayden's left was Kevin, followed by Emily and Antonio.

Jayden snapped open his new Samuraizer, and folded it once more to reveal the sharp calligraphy aid his father and Lauren had once used. The others flipped open their own Samuraizers, and then, as one team, the Rangers yelled; "**_GO, GO SAMURAI!"_**

Antonio yelled, "**_Samurai Morpher: Gold Power_**!" Then, the Rangers all slashed their symbols, and in a flash, each was in their respective Samurai spandex.

"Aaaaaaah," sighed Mike. He looked down at the Green Samurai Ranger uniform on his body. Thumping his chest, he continued; "Feels good to be back in uniform,"

Mia nodded, smiling under her healm. "Yeah, it does,"

"Alright guys, Memory Lane will have to wait; Let's go!" Jayden took off, followed by Lauren, the Kevin, then Mike, Emily, Mia, and Antonio. Bursting outside, Jayden saw that the gate was blown open, the smoke still curling off of the columns and the doors. "What? But, the grounds are protected against evil forces. I placed new symbols around the Shiba House myself," Jayden breathed. Jayden and the other's hands instantly flew to their Spin Sword's hilts. Looking around wildly, the Samurai saw nothing.

Kevin said softly. "You guys heard those footsteps too, right?"

Lauren nodded. "Yep. And I think I can determine what caused them," walking forwards, she crouched. "Look! It's a footprint," The Rangers walked slowly over, and Jayden was confused with what he saw.

A simple wolf pawprint. But, it was elongated, and curved like a human's foot, the claws long and unsightly. "What could have possibly made this? Nighlok hate taking Earthly forms, even if it is of an animal we fear," Mia's voice came through, although the Samurai heard unease in her voice.

A huge snarling sound rippled through the air. Whirling around, Jayden drew his Spin Sword. "Who's there?" he yelled. Jayden slowly turned his head, searching for signs of the intruders. Two eyes suddenly pierced through the dark smoke, glowing a sickly orange.

"Not a _who_, Red, but a _Were_,"

Mike shook his head. "Don't you mean what?"

"No, Green, a _Were_," the voice was silky, yet Jayden could detect something cold within that voice. The thing's eyes bobbed, and Jayden took a stance. The eyes seemed to grow larger, and as it stepped out of the smoke, Jayden felt Lauren get closer to her brother. The thing looked like a cross between a wolf, a rat, a demon, and a person – and not with the best attributes of any of them either.

"See? A _Were_. A WereDemon, to be exact, Red and Green. Now, I am here looking for a particular Ranger who keeps slipping from our grasp, like fire. Can you tell me where this special one is?" Jayden immediately stood firmer on the ground.

_What? Why is this WereDemon after Lauren? This is the first I've heard of them_! Jayden thought.

"We're the Samurai Power Rangers," Jayden shot back, anger clear in his voice. "And you're not getting my sister!"

"Ah, so the Red Ranger is the Shiba Fire boy that we've heard so much about. Well, we had no idea that ice and fire could ever be related!" the thing said, its voice silkily evil.

"Who are you!?" Mia demanded, taking a stance besides her friends.

"The name is Umbrious, First and Only Commander to King Tenebris. And who might you rainbow colored pests be?"

"We're the Power Rangers Samurai!" Antonio yelled.

"Power Red!" Jayden yelled, doing the familiar flourish with his sword.

"Power Red!" Lauren yelled, the same flourish spinning from her hands.

"Power Blue!" Kevin called.

"Power Green!"

"Power Pink!"

"Power Yellow!"

"Power Gold!" Antonio finished.

As one, the rangers lifted their sword above their heads and did a group slash. "**Rangers Together**!"

Posing as a team, they continued, "**_SAMURAI FOREVER_**!"

The WereDemon – Umbrious – began to laugh maliciously. "You really think that seven Samurai brats can stop us?" another bought of laughter. "We nearly defeated your ancestors generations ago, but this time we will drive _you_ into the shadows when Tenebris awakens!"

Antonio scoffed. "What's this we stuff? You're the only WereDemon _I_ see, and if you're all that we have to face, know this; we've defeated even Master Xandred!"

"Master Xandred? Ah, so it was you rainbow clowns who freed the WereDemons from them. Those Nighlok imposters weren't the first things to attack you're planet you know; it was us! Xandred put Tenebris into an abyss, to where Tenebris would often breath evil into the minds of humans here on Earth. Here, he's orchestrated quite a few devastations, you might say. Splendid they were! Although, just to warn you, my King has from time to time emerged from the abyss. If he were to do so now, know this; he's easily one thousand times more powerful than Xandred himself!"

"What?" Mike gasped.

"No," Kevin breathed.

"That can't be!" Emily exclaimed.

"Oh, and as for being alone…" the thing extended his arm like appendages, and lightning spewed from the sky. "Dolums! Come forth to fight!"

Finally, there was a massive spew of lightning, and when the impact hit the earth, a mighty explosion rocked the ground beneath the Rangers' feet. Smoke burst from the area around the monster, and the Rangers struggled to see through it. New growling, barks, and howls all came through the smoke, filling the air, and chilling their bones.

Mia transformed her Spin Sword into a Sky Fan, and with a powerful sweep of her arm, the smoke receeded, revealing several wolflike creatures, their eyes wide and bugging an ugly orange, lips pulled back over sharp, yellow teeth. Their gray fur was clotted and seemed entirely filthy, and their armor was basic, a simple plate on the chest, a few on the thighs, and on the arms. Each Dolum held a sword, and were snarling at the Rangers.

"Now, this isn't even a decimal of a fraction of our army, Rangers! Think you can handle the WereDemon forces?"

"Rangers; go!" Jayden yelled, charging. The other Rangers surged forward as the minions did so.

Each Ranger was soon fighting their own clump, Spin Swords clanging with armor, fur, and sword.

"Man, this is really like old times!" Mia called, as she did a downward slash.

"Yeah, I forgot how much of a workout this is!" Antonio replied, blocking a slash from a Dolum.

"Hey guys, keep your head in the game! That's how we always beat the Nighlok!' Mike yelled, rolling to uppercut a Dolum.

"Gosh, these guys seem a lot stronger than Moogers!" Emily called, slicing through them.

"Yeah, but somehow, they're just as ugly!" Kevin yelled, attaching a blue disk to his Spin Sword. "Spin Sword: Dragon Splash!" with a powerful cut, a huge wave of energized water slammed into the Dolums, causing a few to exploded.

"Guys, can you handle the Dolums? I'm going after Umbrious!" Jayden called, kicking away a Dolum. Putting his Spin Sword on his shoulder, Jayden ran for the WereDemon Commander.

"Right behind you!" Lauren yelled. She sliced at a Dolum, and ran after her brother.

"Ah, so the two Red Rangers wanna dance, eh?" The WereDemon said, revealing a huge twisting black sword. He ran forward, met Jayden's sword. Jayden was about to push downward, when the WereDemon gave a mighty push of his own, just upward, making Jayden's sword go up, and his defense fall. The WereDemon slashed Jayden down his middle, and the Ranger went flying back. Lauren managed to get a few good shots in herself, but the WereDemon slashed her back, and then across her middle as well, sending her spinning away.

Jayden had managed to get up by this time, and was attacking once more.

"Ha! That's the best you got? Right now, I am the most powerful WereDemon, and when Tenebris rises once again, he'll be unstoppable!" The Monster giggle as Jayden and he strained against the blows they had just dealt.

"You'll have to get through me first!" Jayden snarled.

"Can do, Red, can do!" the Thing once more, knocked aside Jayden's Spin Sword, and slashed a Jayden repeatedly. Jayden managed to recover and put up his Sword to block the worst of the attacks, but when the thing's sword began to glow, it began to laugh gleefully. "Ah, yes I'm definetly gaining more power from you!" The thing slashed through the air with a glw of dark energy, and when it hit Jayden, he went flying back wards, the impact slamming through his back on the ground. Jayden struggled to regather himself, but realized that he had dropped his Spin Sword. Jayden sat up slowly to reach for it, but realized it was too far away from him. Rolling onto His side, the Red Ranger glared down the monster from under his visor.

"I have to say, Red, I was hoping for more of a challenge. But, I guess I should be thankful that I can defeat you now and get that special girl!"

"You'll never touch her!" Jayden snapped.

"Oh, still fighting to the end? Well, let this end be painful!" the thing was standing over Jayden, and quickly raised its sword, ready to crash it down on the Red Ranger. However, a Spin Sword entered Jayden's vision, and blocked the path of the WereDemon's sword.

"Huh?" Jayden wondered, following the sword to its owner.

"What? You?" Umbrious said, disbelief in his odd voice. He was looking at the one who had saved Jayden; a White Female Samurai Ranger.

**Quite lengthy, no? Now, I know that I've been messing with this for the past forty minutes, and i apologize. I just want to be the best author that I can be on this site...anyhoo, this is the final product, and even though a good friend of mine suggested that i divie this a little, this is the best that will be done with this. I want big chapters to people can really enjoy this, and truly appreciate that I am trying to create a new idea to the Power Rangers...please enjoy as best you can!**

**All Reviews are welcome, and I would love to see your imput on this story and how you guys are thinking the plot will go. :)**

**see you next chapter! **


	2. Kalla's Plan

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning:**Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Author's Note: Previously, on PRS: Master Power, Jayden and the Samurai Ranger have reunited(Lauren included), and were surprised to find a girl unconscious at the gate. However, she warns them that something is coming, and the Rangers, once more in the Spandex, run out and find that someone has entered the grounds of the Shiba House. It turns out this new evil, the WereDemons, have risen and plan to raise their unstoppable King Tenebris! Jayden engages in battle with the WereDemons, but is defeated. The monster is about to deal the final blow when Jayden is saved – by a White Samurai Ranger!_**

"Yep, me, Umbrious. Now, I suggest that you leave. Before I change my mind about letting you go," the Ranger said. Her voice was rich in youth, strong, and filled with raw energy.

"Ha! You can't even hope to lay a finger on me, special girl!" giggled the Commander.

Jayden stared in shock. _They were after the White Ranger? But she wasn't even here until now!_

The White Ranger didn't say a word. She just thrust up her sword, knocking Umbrious off balance. Then, before he could get a grip, she slashed his stomach horizontally, and then diagonally across his body.

She stepped in front of Jayden, and Jayden still wondered where this girl had come from. "Let me handle this, Hotshot," she said. She removed a white disk from her belt, and attached it to her Spin Sword.

"Spin Sword: Blizzard Strike!" She slashed the air, and a powerful wave of ice cold energy enveloped the WereDemon commander, sending him reeling backwards clutching his middle.

"I suggest you leave. Or do I have to remind you what will happen if you stay?" She snapped, readying her sword once more.

The WereDemon faced her down, snarls ripping from his throat. Finally, he began to back away slowly. The few remaining Dolums followed him. "Alright, Icy. We'll leave. But Tenebris will rise. You'll see," then, with a flick, he and his minions disappeared in a wave of energy. The White Ranger relaxed, and began to walk towards the gate.

"Jayden!" Emily yelled, running over to her leader. Jayden looked up, and with the Yellow Ranger's help, slowly, and shakily stood. The other came over to their leader, Lauren standing in front of her brother. "Are you hurt?" Lauren asked, urgency a big thing in her voice.

Jayden nodded, and demorphed, the others following suit. "I'm fine. Just a little sore," he lied. Those attacks had hurt so badly, Jayden was certain he was done for before the White Ranger had arrived.

"Symbol Power: Repair," said the voice of the White Ranger. She carved a symbol into the air, glowing white. She swiped it, making it spin and fly towards the gates. When it reached it, cold white winds blew around the gate, reversing the damage done.

Ji came out of the house and rushed over to Jayden. "Are you alright?" his mentor asked, his eyes worried. Jayden struggled to nod, but a wave of pain overcame him. He groaned, and fell to one knee.

"Jayden!" Mia yelled, concern ripe in her voice.

"Oh, don't be such a worry wart. Look, Umbrious's sword drawn energy by taking anothers'. Usually, the person or being that he's fighting. Now that you're demorphed, you should heal fine as long as you don't use your symbol power for a couple hours," the White Ranger said, turning back to the others. Jayden couldn't see her eyes, but he knew they were watching him and the others very closely.

Mike stood, and stepped a little in front of the Red Ranger. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

The White Ranger looked down. "Oh, right. Sorry, I'm still getting used to the whole 'Samurai Uniform Mode' idea. Power down," she said, and her uniform disappeared in a white flash and a small cloud of Ice symbols. She stood there, arms crossed, her straight caramel hair billowing in the wind. Her icy blue eyes scanned the others, and Jayden felt his stomach clench. It all made sense. The reason the Weres had even come, her arrival, everything.

"You're….." Jayden said. It was the girl who had appeared at the gate a little before the attack.

"The name is Kalla," she said hesitantly. "As you probably just figured out, I'm the White Samurai,"

Ji stood. "I'm sorry, but I've haven't heard of anything of your family for a while now, Kalla. Even so, I have to ask you for your morpher,"

Jayden looked at his mentor. "What? Why?"

Kalla looked away bitterly. "Because, Hotshot, my family was banished from the Shiba House generations ago, that's why Ji wants my morpher," she mumbled. Kalla took a deep breath, and then turned back to the others. "Well, no can do Ji. See ya later, Rangers. Thanks for helping my wounds," she began to walk to the now repaired gate.

Emily exchanged a glance with Mike. "You're leaving?" she called.

Kalla paused and turned around slowly. "Yeah, I have to go finish off Umbrious and the other WereDemons. If they're allowed to rise, this world and all other worlds are doomed," she said, her face filled with confusion. She flitted her gaze back to Ji. "Besides, I really don't want to be a trouble if I'm not wanted," Jayden sensed genuine truth in this; Kalla didn't really seem to want to be a burden. He admired how she still stood with her shoulders strong and those eyes…..something about her eyes drew him in. Shaking oss that weird feeling climbing in his chest, Jayden stood once more.

"Ji, we need her help. You didn't see how she saved me," the Red Ranger said. The Mentor turned to his charge, but before he could even begin to protest, Kalla's voice once again reached the Rangers.

"You actually want me here?" she whispered, her eyes wide with something like wonder.

Kevin stepped up. "Of course. We all saw how you defended Jayden. If you hadn't, we would probably be without him right now,"

Mia stepped forward. "Yeah. Any enemy of the Samurai Rangers, even a Ranger herself, wouldn't have saved him if they wanted to hurt us,"

Kalla smiled. She suddenly got on one knee. "I know this may be odd, but as the current and only remaining member of the Haruki White Ranger Family, I pledge myself to the service of the Red Shogun, and to the way of the Samurai," Kalla looked up, and Jayden realized that she was waiting for an answer. Jayden stared at her. The others had been right; if she was evil, she wouldn't have saved him. However, she could have just as easily saved him just so she could do just this.

Jayden spoke, shocking everyone even himself. "I accept your pledge to the Power Rangers. However, until we learn the depths of your loyalty to the Shiba House, I cannot welcome you into the full trust of the Shiba Samurai lineage,"

***MASTER MODE POWER***

Jayden winced as Mentor slapped his rag onto Jayden's leg. "Ow!' Jayden said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, Jayden," Mentor said. Something was bothering Ji.

"What is it?" Jayden said, his eyes and voice clear.

Mentor Ji looked at Jayden. He sighed. "As grateful as I am for Kalla saving you, I cannot trust her just yet. Her line was banished from this House for a reason,"

"What were they banished for?"

"They plotted to kill the Red Ranger's ancestor. They themselves wanted to be Grand Shogun of the Samurai Rangers,"

"Kalla might not want that," Jayden said, nervousness and suspicion clinching in his stomach. However, he felt a self conflicting emotions well up in him. Something about Kalla drew him in, and he sensed that she was feeling the same pull towards him.

Mentor sighed, bringing Jayden back. "I guess that what Kalla's ancestors did doesn't mean that she will do the same. Just, please, to ease my mind, be wary,"

Jayden looked at his Mentor. Ji only wanted to protect him, but Jayden also desperately believed that Kalla was truly pure."I will, I promise,"

"Good. Now come, I've planned a campfire tonight,"

***MASTER MODE POWER***

That night, Ji had made a small campfire to celebrate the victory over the creatures. Emily and Mike had insisted that Kalla attend. Now, as the team exchanged memories, and campfire stories, Kalla only looked deep into the fire, her expression one of loneliness.

"So, Kalla. Where are you from?"

Kalla looked up. "Emily…I don't really like to talk about it…'

Jayden's earlier suspicions flowed freely once more. "Why? What do you have to hide?" Jayden instantly wanted to kick himself. That wasn't something you just blurt out!

Kalla's expression turned into one of anger and she snapped, "Well sorry if I don't really like remembering the night my home was destroyed, Jayden!" The others fell silent from their separate conversations. Kalla's eyes began to fill with tears and she turned from the fire and walked away, hand wiping her eyes.

Jayden looked at the girl, and instantly felt guilty. He stood. "Guys stay here. I'll be back," he went after Kalla.

A ways into the forest, he found the White Samurai sitting on a fallen log, one knee pulled to her chest as she held her FoldingZord. Jayden walked up to her, but before he could put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Kalla spoke.

"You don't have to apologize. I know what Ji told you, about not being able to trust me. But, I didn't come to you guys because of what my ancestors have done to your family,"

Unsure how to respond, Jayden struggled for a change in topic. The others had felt homesick when they had first come to the Shiba House, so maybe that's all it was. "Look, after all this is done, you'll see your family again. I'm sure they're waiting for you-"

"That's just what you don't understand!" Kalla said, her voice once more filled with icy cold anger. "You have friends, you have a family, you have a sister, you have Ji, you even have the Shiba House! I don't have anything anymore, Jayden! The WereDemons took everything away from me!" Kalla's voice choked up with her last statement, and she clutched her FoldingZord tightly. Jayden's outstretched hand curled back towards him as he pulled away, then he let it drop heavily to his side.

For the first time, Jayden realized that he was getting a peek into Kalla's life. She had never mentioned that her family was gone, or that she was homeless. Jayden sighed. Kalla turned and looked at him over her shoulder.

"May I join you?" he asked quietly.

"You're the Red Ranger. I'm not gonna stop you," she huffed, turning away once more.

"What happened to your family, Kalla?" The Red Ranger stepped over the log and sat next to this wounded girl. Kalla looked at him.

Kalla didn't answer, but stared up at the full moon. Kalla's face was illuminated by the silver, and she seemed to full of pain, yet so full of life. Jayden found himself drawn into her image, and looked away, confused with his thoughts.

'I'm sure you know what its like to lose your family. Lauren was taken from you, your father killed in battle, your mother disappeared after you were born. But you had the Rangers. You had the team. Even after all those times you left, you still came back because they reminded you that you're more than friends. Me? Once it was all taken from me, I had nowhere to go but to the Shiba House. I defended you because I didn't want to lose even the smallest link I would have with my family – even if it was an unwelcome one," Kalla clutched her Zord and pulled it to her chest.

Jayden put his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a comforting squeeze. "How?" he whispered gently. Kalla closed her eyes.

"The White Ranger has always tried to protect herself and her family by aiding the WereDemons. My parents hid my birth from them. However, I guess that they couldn't hide me from the WereDemons forever. On my seventeenth birthday, those monsters attacked without warning. My mother the former White Ranger, tried to hold them off. But, they killed the servants first. Then my father. Then, when my Mentor tried to protect me, he too was killed. My mother was the last to fall. She was wounded by their Commander, and their King came to kill me, but I escaped with my mother's Zord and morpher. I hid as I watched them scour the house. They lit it on fire, and I listened to my mother's screams as the WereDemons killed her," Kalla suddenly paused drawing in a shaky breath.

Jayden wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close, letting her bury herself into his shoulder to hide from the world while she mourned. "You don't have to go on," he whispered, knowing that her remembering was horrible. His last memory of his father, though noble, was painful for him as well.

Kalla shook her head. Jayden was surprised that she wasn't crying yet. "I needed someone to know. I've been carrying around that horrible night in my head for so long," Jayden looked at her face and in the silver light of the moon, saw a lone tear escape her eye. Jayden reached out with his free hand and cupped her cheek. Kalla looked up at him, surprise clear in her wet eyes. Using his thumb, Jayden gently wiped away her tear. Kalla's hand reached up and gently grabbed his arm, her other cupping his own cheek. Kalla's lips slowly pulled into a hopeful smile, and Jayden couldn't help but smile himself. Kalla closed her eyes and touched her forehead to Jayden's.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"For what?" Jayden said. All he had done was make her remember the worst night of her life.

"For understanding. For being here," she replied, slowly sliding out of his embrace. Kalla stood, and wiped her face with the heel of her hand. Jayden remained standing, watching her carefully. "I'm fine. I just…." Kalla paused, searching for the words.

Jayden smiled, and he stood, his eyes locked with hers. "I understand. Believe me, I do,"

Kalla smiled again, and Jayden saw something in her eyes. It was something that was beginning to grow. Jayden was certain that it was growing in his heart too. Trust. But, there was still so many things that still separated them. Kalla was an exile from his House, and she was just a musterious girl who had a hidden past. As far as Jayden knew, she had a suitor. Jayden suddenly shook his head. _Where did that question come from?_

Kalla wanted nothing more than to return to that embrace. She had never had the feeling of someone holding and touching Kalla as if she were glass. Kalla dismissed it as wanting comfort. Jayden suddenly shook his head, as if a weird thing popped in his head too.

"Jayden, I want to thank you for…..for welcoming me," Kalla couldn't believe that's what she said. She had meant to say for holding her, but fear and shyness held her back.

"I want to thank you. For saving me when the WereDemons attacked,"

Kalla nodded, and before she walked back, she suddenly threaded her fingers with Jayden's. The Rangers looked at each other. The air began to intensify, and crackle between them. Kalla's cheeks flamed, and she was glad that the moon hid her blush. As she began to pull away, so did Jayden.

Jayden led the way back, but both of them knew that they never wanted to leave the peace of the log, where Kalla had been in Jayden's arms.

However, when Kalla got back to the campfire, she realized that now might not be the best time to try and win the Red Ranger's true trust like this. She had to prove that she wasn't like her lineage. She wasn't. Kalla had been fighting the WereDemons ever since that night, and she hated hiding her dark secret from him.

"Okay guys. We all know that this new evil is very powerful. Tonight, I want everyone to rest so we can begin to train for the fight ahead," Jayden said, his eyes sweeping around the whole team.

The Rangers looked at each other. Then, Mike spoke up. "When do we start? Same time as usual?"

***MASTER MODE POWER***

Kalla slashed and slashed at the dummy, her new sparring sword vibrating painfully in her hands. Exhaustion prickled her eyes, but she ignored the wave of tiredness. She rolled, and attacked the dummy once more, and kicked in on the side, sending it tipping over with a loud thud. Panting, Kalla stood there, and thought over her last training round.

Shaking her head, she muttered to herself, that was sloppy. My roll didn't have enough tuck so I wasn't fast enough, so that slowed my blows and messed up my final kick," Hoisting up the dummy, Kalla quickly walked to the bench, and grabbed the gray towel. Wiping her face, Kalla buried her sweat slicked visage in the towel, just enjoying the softness for that moment. But, hearing footsteps, Kalla pulled herself out of the towel, threw it back on the bench, and attacked the dummy once again.

"Hey," came the commanding voice. Turning around, Kalla quickly threw her sword into the dummy's chest, and ripped upwards, forcing the dummy to rock. Pausing, Kalla stood there, looking at Jayden. Panting from the exhilaration.

"What're you doing here?" she snapped.

"It's five-thirty. Usually I'm the first one out here. When did you leave from practice last night?" He asked, something like the seeds of concern in his face.

Kalla shrugged, and changed out her sword's weight. "I never went inside,"

"What? You're telling me, that after I told everyone that we needed to rest, you stayed out here all night training?" Jayden's face began to grow angry.

Kalla looked at his dead in the eye, ignoring the warm shivers through her body when their eyes met. "Look, I've been training like this since I was three, what's the big deal?" Shaking off Jayden's glare, Kalla proceeded to practice. Sighing, Jayden took a sword and watched her train. Watching her speed, her velocity, and her odd way of putting the moves together, Jayden slowly realized something.

"You've never fought another human before, have you?"

Kalla suddenly stopped, and twirled on one foot, her sword slicing straight through the air towards Jayden. Thinking quickly, Jayden acquired a quick backhanded grip and blocked her blow, bracing his other arm behind the sword to absorb more of her forceful shock. Kalla's eyes, though holding a challenge, showed a playfulness, and something shy lay shimmering in those icy blue depths.

Pulling her sword away, Kalla brought it to her side, and she smiled shyly. "No. I've mostly fought the WereDemons and dummies, never really a real person,"

Jayden smiled and stepped out onto the small area where the Rangers often sparred back in the day. "I would be honored, to cross wood with you," he joked, bowing. Something about this girl, and being alone with her…..it made Jayden feel more at home, more loose, relaxed.

Kalla smiled, and bowed to her Shogun. "The honor is mine, Red Ranger," Straightening from their bows, Kalla and Jayden took respective fighting stances. Kalla, unsure of what to do, waited for the Red Ranger to strike. Jayden studied this girl in front of him, and sank into the Samurai warrior within him. Her defense was strong, and he had seen her attack. Jayden readied some of his special combos to see whether or not this girl's strange fighting style would affect him. Kalla waited, studying his stance, and realized that Jayden's own fighting style wasn't like that of the Samurai. Her eyes narrowed, and she tightened the grip on her sword.

"Hya!" Jayden yelled, charging Kalla ducked, and turned, her sword spinning, ready to whack Jayden's abs. However, the Ranger quickly blocked her shot and drove her own force against her. Kalla gave an upward push and as Jayden went for a shot in the back, Kalla blocked it and got to her feet once again.

Jayden  
quickly leaped over her, flipping, and as Kalla quickly tried to think of a way to block, the sword made contact with the bare skin of her leg. Kalla fell to one knee, but Jayden's side was open. Swinging her sword, she made to go for his other side, then with a pop of her fingers, pushed her sowrd through the air towards her other hand. When she caught it, she quickly struck Jayden's side.

Jayden flinched at the burst of pain in his side. Kalla's blows were really strong, but she seemed oddly drained from her night of training.

Kalla gritted her teeth, surprised that Jayden didn't submit after that blow. Kalla began to feel something dark welling within herself. She tried to stop panting, to save her breath for the fight because it was far from over. Kalla felt her left bicep begin to burn, and Kalla was ever so glad that she had hidden her arms under black sleeves.

Jayden leaped, avoiding her next attack and Kalla spun in place, standing.

"I have to admit, this is a lot better than dummy fights, Jayden," Kalla said, her guard still up.

"I'm just wondering on your style. Its so odd compared to what I'm used to," Jayden said.

"Really?" Kalla said, and at that moment, she swung. Jaydn quickly sought an opening, and saw her left bicep area was left unguarded. Swinging under her blow, Jayden quickly turned and sharply hit Kalla's left bicep.

Kalla's eyes exploded with pain, and she reeled as Jayden wondered what was wrong. Kalla suddenly doubled over, clutching her arm. Jayden quickly dropped his sword and crouched besides Kalla. She was clawing at her left bicep. Knowing that he must check on her, Jayden quickly rolled up her sleeve, and what Jayden saw filled him with horror. Three pronged scars made themselves clear on Kalla's arm, and they were a very angry red. "Kalla, what is this?" Jayden breathed, gently grazing his fingers across her scars. Kalla looked at him, then covered the scar as best she could with her free hand.

"It's nothing, Jayden. Just an old battle wound," she gasped, her voice bright with pain.

"Kalla, if its still causing you pain, then its more than just a battle wound. Come on, I'm gonna take you to Mentor, he'll help you," jayden gently tugged her, and when he did, she nodded, and rose unsteadily to her feet. As she did, she still hadn't quite gotten herself together, so she alsmot fell once more. Jayden instantly shot out an arm and caught her once again. Kalla's face paled, and she suddenly remembered the moon lit night were Jayden had held her so tenderly.

Jayden must've remembered that night too, for his stiffened, and Kalla felt a slight pulse of warmth spread through him. Looking up, Kalla saw that night reflecting in his eyes, and she slowly pulled away, making some distance between them. Kalla suddenly, cleared her throat to get Jayden's attention once more.

"Um, I think I can make it to Mentor's on my own," Kalla pulled away, the cold air washing over her as the warmth of his arms disappeared.

"Oh, uh right. The others should be out in a moment, so I'll just practice….with them. No training until after noon for you, got it? Get some rest," Jayden's tone seemed more controlled and composed after each sentence. When he turned away, Kalla knew that it was almost as if nothing had transpired.

Kalla quickly hobbled into the Shiba House, but the pain beneath her hand was growing harder and harder to ignore. Kalla stumbled finally to Mentor; he was in the dojo, meditating and he looked up as soon as Kalla came stumbling around the corner.

"Kalla?" Mentor asked. Before she could reply, Kalla pitched forward, groaning sharply and painfully. "Kalla!" Mentor cried, running forwards to the Ranger's side. Kalla was already pushing herself up with her hands, and her legs slowly crunched in, ready to aid her in standing.

"You ok?"

Kalla shook her head. "Jayden wanted you to look at this," she whispered, and she revealed her scar. Ji gasped. "Kalla, what did this to you?"

Kalla looked down at the ground as Ji helped her to sit up. "A friend of my father's," Kalla said. "Ji," she breathed.

The Mentor couldn't tear his eyes away from her scar. "Ji," Kalla said. The Mentor looked at her, and then he saw that look on her face.

"Ji, I think that we really should go after the Sword. I've told you how powerful Tenebris is, what more do you need to convince you?" Kalla whispered, her voice growing more desperate by the word.

Ji hesitated. "I told you, the Sword of the Grand Shogun disappeared centuries ago. No Ranger has ever been able to find it ever since the Red Ranger sealed it away,"

"Yes, because the Red Ranger at that time said only a worthy White Ranger could find it. He sealed it away to protect the Rangers from my predecessor who wanted to use the sword to kill them all. He said only a White Ranger who is worthy enough to find the Sword can lead the Rangers to it, and I've told you of my visions!" Kalla said. "Do you need a Ranger to be killed to convince you?"

Ji sighed. "Kalla…I'm sorry. But I cannot risk this team to chase some Sword that was lost to time,"

Kalla placed her hand on her scars. "Then maybe it takes the Ranger lineage lost to time to find it," she said gently.

"Kalla," Ji paused. "I understand that Tenebris rose to kill your family. I understand that you want him defeated,"

"You have to understand that the Power Rangers need the Sword of the Shogun! I told you, Zordon showed me where it was!"

"Kalla, Zordon has been gone for more than a decade," Ji insisted.

Kalla looked at him, her eyes beginning to cloud. "Then, if I've never seen him, how could he have appeared to me in a vision?"

"I will not send this team-"

"And I will not bow to Tenebris when he comes, or to you. If I have to, I'll take the team and lead them to the Sword, and you know I will, Ji,"

Jayden quickly paused from his symbol power practice to check over the other Rangers. Kalla and Ji had just emerged from the House and were in an intense discussion. Noticing the new gauze wrap around her scar, Jayden hoped it would help. Emily and Mia were in a good sparring fight, and Mike and Kevin were sparring themselves, Antontio being their poor victim. However, the gold Ranger was holding his own. Lauren was practicing the Sealing Symbol of the Shiba Clan, each time changing the order of the strokes so she wouldn't accidentally try to seal something or someone away.

Jayden felt a small tap on the shoulder, and saw Ji and Kalla.

Kalla quickly got on one knee, her head bowed. "With your permission, I have something important to tell the other Samurai Rangers," Kalla said. Ji looked confused at Kalla, and Jayden couldn't help a confused stare as well.

"Um, Kalla? What's with all the formalities?"

"They aren't my team, I shouldn't be the one to gather them when something urgent needs to be told. Besides, whenever I needed to speak with my father or mother as they were training, I always had to ask a guardian in this manner,"

Jayden ignored that for now. "Guys! Kalla has something important to say," the Rangers all turned away from their work, and slowly walked over to Jayden. Lauren turned and walked over a few steps.

Kalla took a deep breath. "I know you are all remembering the attack of the WereDemons yesterday. I know most of you are aware that that they were extremely strong. If you guys hadn't been fresh, and so filled with raw unused symbol power, I don't think yesterday's outcome would've happened. So, I know of a way to gain more power," Kalla glanced at Ji, and the Mentor stepped forward.

"We must find the legendary Sword of the Shogun, a sword that is said to hold the power of Zordon himself. It was hidden by the Red Shogun when the last White Ranger tried to use its power to destroy the Shiba Family,"

**Duh-duh-duhn! Zordon! Yes, Zordon, the reason the Rangers exist. I added the Z-Man cause, its never Power Ranger without Zordon, and I think ten years is enough time to be sleeping, eh?**

**DON'T KILL ME FOR THIS HORRIBLENESS!**

**Review please, and I will see you next chapter, as soon as I write it….**


	3. Zords Within

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning:**Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Author's Note: Previously, on Power Rangers, Master Mode: The Samurai Rangers discover that the White Ranger is the girl they rescues at the gate. Kalla, as she introduces herself, is the only survivor of a brutal attack on her home a few weeks ago. Ji and Jayden at first are suspicious of this newcomer, and what her arrival means for the Rangers. However, when Kalla and Jayden spar, it is revealed that Kalla has a terrible scar that causes her extreme pain when hit. She then tells Mentor that the Rangers must leave to find a Legendary Sword – the Sword of the Shogun. This Sword, is said to hold the powers of Zordon himself._**

Kalla looked around at her friends as Mentor's words slowly sank into their minds. With a quiver of unease, the White Ranger reflected that this might not be the best way to introduce to them this idea and concept of the Sword. The Sword of the Shogun is one of the most powerful weapons of the Samurai Rangers. However powerful it was, it could only be wielded by the Shogun – so only Jayden could ever use that weapon. Kalla looked at the others and realized that excitement was spreading across their faces. Kalla stepped forward, ready to speak again, when Kevin beat her to it.

"This is awesome! With that Sword, we can beat back the WereDemons before they arise!"

Kalla instantly felt fear clench in her stomach. This was exactly what worried her. "No, Kevin, it's not-"

Mike smiled, and without any attention to Kalla high fived an eager Antonio, then wrapped his other arm around Emily. "We can get the upper hand!" Emily smiled and threw her arms around Mike's middle.

"Guys, I really think that-" Kalla tried again.

"This is amazing! No one has seen that Sword in generations, and now we can use it to stop this evil before it gets out of hand like the fight with Master Xandred did!" Mia said, and only Kalla seemed to notice how she slid her arms through Kevin's and hugged it to her chest.

Lauren stepped forward, her face gentle but commanding. "Kalla, you seem to want to add something," Kalla threw a grateful glance to the Red Female Ranger.

"Yes. The Sword, it can only be held by the Shogun, and found by a White Ranger," she said dejectedly. "I have to guide you to where it is," Kalla looked around, and the other Rangers began to truly understand how this Sword was hidden for a reason.

Jayden stepped forward, and placed a hand on the small of Kalla's back, a gesture meant for comfort. The White Ranger, so startled by the contact flinched and whirled to face her leader. "We will find the Sword, Rangers. I say we leave now, to catch the WereDemons off guard. Who's ready?"

The other began to look around, for any hint of desperation, fear or any wave of emotion that would set any hesitation in the Samurai. Antonio was the first to step up. "I can be ready in minutes, Jayden,"

Mike and Emily glanced at each other. "We'll follow you, Jayden," Emily said, tearing her eyes away from Mike's. Mike nodded and smiled at his friend and Shogun. Mia stepped forward, glancing subtly at Kevin.

"I know that without Kalla yesterday, we wouldn't have Jayden with us right now. So, I trust her to lead us to our one hope of beating the WereDemons," Mia gave an encouraging smile to the young Samurai Ranger.

Kevin hesitated. Then, he sighed, smiling. "You know that I'd never do anything without all of you guys," he sighed. Mike and the others laughed, wrapping their arms around each other in a group hug sort of way. Lauren smiled.

"I may not have known each of you for very long, but I know that I would follow you guys and of course, Jayden to the end, as Rangers together," she joined the hug, and Jayden stepped into it as well, smiling. Kalla stayed back, feeling like she was intruding. These Seven had already come together, and here she was. The lone Ranger. With a pang in her heart, Kalla turned away and quickly disappeared into the Shiba House. The otherssaw her departure, and instantly wondered why she hadn't included herself in the group hug; she was part of the team. But, they were distracted by Mike, who held Kevin in a head lock and was giving his roommate a good, hard noogie. Laughing, Jayden shook his head; he was still concerned for Kalla, as any leader would be, but he couldn't do anything right now.

Ji smiled and spoke, breaking the Rangers apart. "I must warn you; the Sword is hidden and protected very well. You must be ready to guard one another at all times, no matter the circumstances," With that last statement, Jayden felt a small rib of fury as Ji glanced at him. Both of them knew that Mentor was referring to the warning Mentor had given him yesterday about Kalla. The Red Ranger couldn't help but slowly begin to agree with his Mentor. Kalla seemed oddly hesitant to share anything personal; he had practically dragged the information of her family out of her when her grief became too much for her to bear alone.

Jayden turned back to the others. "Go, get ready," and with that, and as one, the Rangers ran inside, preparing for a journey that seemed too good to be true.

***Master Mode Power***

Kalla slowly led the way out of the gate, looking around as if she were a hawk scanning her world for prey. Suddenly, she snapped east, towards the mountains, and began to walk that way, as if following something only she could see. Mia felt worry and concern for this newcomer. Not only had she been thrown into this odd and crazy world, but she had been chosen for a task that seemed to be almost impossible. Although Mia had only known the girl for less than two days, she had already felt a sisterly protection to Kalla. Racing ahead to catch up, the Pink Ranger fell in step with the White Samurai. Kalla kept her eyes fixed on the trail, and slowly led the Rangers up a winding faded path in the forest brush.

Finally, Mia began to look around, thinking that maybe Kalla was just shy; besides, the Shiba House itself was over looking to city, to better protect itself and the people bellow, so the eight were already high enough to be amazed with a gorgeous view. Kalla suddenly spoke, startling Mia out of her thoughts.

"What was it like? Fighting with the team against the Nighlok?" Kalla's voice was hesitant, but also curiously sad.

Mia looked at the White Ranger, and saw that she was gazing at Mia, her light blue eyes searching for something.

Mia's own eyes clouded as she slowly remembered the times she and her friends would go to battle against the Nighlok, one year ago. "It was exhilarating. We always followed Jayden with all our hearts, and we always felt that danger of failing hanging in our heads. Sometimes, we would have clashes outside of the battles, but they wormed into the battles themselves, causing us to nearly fail," Mia paused. "There was this one time, where Mentor assigned special Zords to us, hoping that thre Rangers with the special Zords could pilot and form the Samurai Battlewing. I was given the Beetle Zord, a part of the Battlewing, but Mike so badly wanted it. He felt that he had proved himself so many times before, and in the heat of battle, stole the disk from me-"

Kalla smiled. "So like the Bear Zord," she murmured. Mia looked at her.

"What?" confusion riddled the Pink Ranger's brain as she tried to make sense of Kalla's odd statement.

Kalla turned back to her. "Oh, you don't know about the Zords?"

Mia nodded. "I know that they have a special connection to our symbols,"

"Well, yes. But they also represent some part of that Ranger, which is why you guys are able to pilot them so well," Kalla added. Seeing that Mia was still confused, Kalla smiled.

"See, the Symbol of Air, your symbol not only represents you, but your Zord and you are mirror images, too," Kalla tried again. Sighing, she continued. "The Turtle Zord doesn't need to change what it is to be perfect for its surroundings. It can be powerful without changing who it is; same with you. When you are the Pink Ranger, you change the least of the others because you're so like your Zord. Get it?" Kalla asked.

Mia's eyes began to dawn with understanding. "Oh. So, you're Zord, the Falcon?"

Kalla smiled, and pulled out her diamond white Zord with her Symbol baring itself proudly to the world. It transformed in her hands, folding itself around to reveal a small hawk-like bird.

"The Hawk Zord?" Mia inquired. Kalla shook her head.

"The Zord actually changed the day my family was banished. We used to be the owners of the Whale Zord, but it changed; it became the Falcon FoldingZord, for our solitary need, our far reaching sight, and for its ability to soar? We longed for the freedom to fly where we wanted, just as a falcon wishes to fly all its life," Kalla looked down at her Zord tenderly as it crawled up her right arm to her shoulder. It nestled there, snuggling a little bit with Kalla.

"It's all I have left of my mother," Kalla whispered.

Mia put a reassuring hand on Kalla's arm. Kalla smiled, and the two friends continued up the trail, Kalla leading the Rangers towards the Sword of the Shogun.

***Master Mode Power***

It was around noontime when Emily's laughter spiked through the air, causing the rest of the group to turn around to the Yellow and Green Ranger in the rear. Emily was giggling as Mike tried not to look embarrassed. Kalla listened closely, and in a break between Emily's laughter, she heard a faint growl. Bursting into giggles herself, she walked back towards the Green Ranger. Standing in front of him, she put her hands on her hips, and her caramel colored hair flicked over her shoulder.

"Hungry are we?" Kalla giggled. Mike rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, um sorry!"

Jayden looked around, and spied a small clearing in the sun just a few yards ahead up the trail. "There! We can rest for a bit – and yes, we can eat lunch too Mike!"

**Short, I know, but this is a chapter where the journey begins! Action picks up next chapter, but Kalla also sort of revealed something of the future in her talk with Mia. Any guesses? And, no, unfortunately, Zordon will not be making an entrance in this story; remember, Andros did destroy him to save the universe; I was just referring to him on how the Ranger's ancestors got their powers and mastery over Symbols. I hope that I can update again soon, I've had this idea in my head for too long! Oh, and yes to my Transformers fans, I will update soon – as soon as I cure my writer's block….**

**Review please!**


	4. Sacrifice of the Samurai

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning:**Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Author's Note: Previously, on Power Rangers, Master Mode: The Samurai Rangers ready to set out after the Sword of the Shogun. As they travel, Mia takes it upon herself to try and get to know Kalla better and the two talk. Kalla informs Mia of the true Nature of the Zords and how they connect to the Symbols of the Rangers. At noon, Mike interrupts their trek when he realizes he's hungry. _**

Kalla smiled as she watched the Rangers eat together. They seemed like a family, with Mia and Jayden slowly warming up to her. But Kalla knew, that deep in her heart, that she had to keep them at bay. Sadness poured over her, and she looked down at her left arm, wrapped heavily in gauze under her jacket. Sighing, she put her right hand over the scars, and felt the hiss of anger in the air as she touched it. She couldn't get too close to them – and her conflicting emotions over Jayden weren't helping. Kalla shook her head angrily. Emotions over Jayden? Gosh, she had barely known the young teenager for less than two days! She couldn't have any emotion over him.

But, that was why she was sitting quite a ways away from the others, up in a low hanging branch. She had told them it was because she wanted to keep watch for danger, but she had seen the concern in Mia's eyes and the frustration in both Jayden's and Lauren's eyes. That's what scared Kalla the most; they knew that she was being solitary on purpose, but knowing how they were, as a family of friends, they were going to try to pull her into their world. Kalla just…she couldn't let that happen. She wanted so desperately to be down there, to be with the others to be laughing, talking, joking and to forget that the world was in trouble, even if it was just for a few moments. Kalla also knew deep down in her heart, that she wished for Jayden to hold her as he had done her first night with the Samurai.

Suddenly, Kalla was snapped out of her thoughts as Mike called up to her.

"Hey Kalla!" Mike had hidden a small Frisbee behind his back, but was standing in a way that it was inconspicuous.

Glancing down, Kalla instantly knew something was up. Mike, Mia, Antonio and Emily all were standing and spread out across the clearing. Kalla instantly put her guard up and jumped out of the tree, landing so that the balls of her feet absorbed the impact. Standing, Jayden instantly grew concerned; Kalla's stance clearly that she was wary and ready to fight. He began to stand, but felt his sister tug him down. Glancing at her, she shook her head. _Let's see where this goes_. Her eyes said. Jayden reluctantly sat down, ready to spring into action at any moment.

Kalla kept her eyes on Mike, but sent quick glances from her eyes to the others every now and again. "Yeah Mike?" she asked.

Mike smiled and then, with quick reflexes, threw the Frisbee right at Kalla. "Catch!" he yelled.

Kalla instantly went into training mode, and dodged the Frisbee by flipping over it, and drawing her Spin Sword. Turning around, she watched as the Frisbee thunked against the tree, and she instantly felt embarrassed. Hiding her Sword once again, she began to walk over the Frisbee, feeling the eyes of her new team on her intently. Picking up the Frisbee, Kalla looked back at Mike and she saw shock on the faces of all her friends. She tossed the Frisbee to Mike and climbed back up the tree and settled on her branch again. "Sorry, Mike. I've never played with a Frisbee," She quickly turned away and surveyed the landscape but Mike's came filtering through the branches.

"So? We can teach you, Kalla!" he called. Emily ran over, her blonde hair swaying.

"Yeah! Come on, it's fun!" she called. Kalla desperately wanted nothing more than to jump down, but she had felt all those eyes on her. She hated that feeling, being on the spot, being the one who was wrong.

"No," she said, unable to keep a little dark warning from entering her voice.

Mike walked under her branch with Emily in tow. "Come on! Just cause we're Samurai doesn't mean we can have fun!"

Kalla closed her eyes, desperate to ignore the plea in her teammate's voice. "I don't want to," she said through clenched teeth.

"Please!" Mike called, growing impatient. "It's really simple and its fun! It promotes team bonding and-"

**"I said no!"** Kalla yelled, temper flaring. As it had done when she was little, the air around her grew cold and the leaves instantly froze. When they had frozen solid, they cracked in a powerful burst, rained down on the two Rangers below, making Emily scream in surprise. Kalla instantly knew that she should apologize, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't get close to them, and they insisted in her joining them. She heard Mike and Emily retreat and heard a faint genuine "Sorry," from Emily, but Kalla closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. _Its for their own good._ She thought. Kalla looked at her fellow Rangers, watching them laugh as they tossed the Frisbee between them. Looking over to where Kevin, Lauren and Jayden were sitting, she was shocked to see the two Red Rangers missing. Kevin was joining the others, but the two Shiba children were missing.

Kalla instantly stood and looked around – only to see them sitting on the branch above hers. They smiled gently at her. Lauren's blue eyes sparkled and Jayden was watching the others. "Quite a view you have, Kalla," Lauren said as she watched the others play with the Frisbee. She focused her eyes on Kalla. "How did you do that thing with the leaves?"

Kalla felt her stomach drop and she began to sit back down on her branch, but Jayden motioned for her to join them. Kalla paused, then sighed knowing she couldn't disobey an order from the Red Ranger. She climbed to their branch and settled between them, right to where Jayden had insisted she sit. Lauren kept her eyes expectantly on Kalla, waiting for an answer. Kalla kept her eyes closed as she struggled to think of ways to apologize to Mike and Emily for scaring them. Finally, she turned to Lauren.

"I was trained by my mother since I was three. We started the day that we realized the Ice Symbol Power was oddly wild within me. I wanted to practice with a sword as my mother and father sparred, but the guardians wouldn't let me insisiting I was too young. I got mad and yelled at them. As I did, the porcelain that the guardians kept near them for healing potions, began to freeze and as I continued to scream it began to crack. Finally, I stomped my foot after I insulted the guardian heavily, and the porcelain shattered, just as the leaves did,"

Jayden looked at Kalla. "I've never heard of Symbol Power being activated without the summoning symbol first," he said.

Kalla shook her head. "The symbol just channels the power to a specific point and purpose. Symbol Power can also be activated when raw and unused," she looked at the two Shibas, glancing at Lauren first and then, almost hesitantly at Jayden. "You guys haven't used sufficient Symbol Power for a while, so you have built up, raw energy inside of you too. Just like they do," Kalla said, looking down at the others.

Jayden looked at the others. "Kalla, why wouldn't you really join them?" The Red Ranger saw his friend stiffen, and her eyes darkened. Once more, her right hand flew to her arm, and Jayden instantly grew concerned. Without remembering that Lauren didn't know about Kalla's injury, Jayden touched Kalla's knee. "Does your wound hurt?"

Lauren looked at the two. "Wound?" she asked. Kalla glared at Jayden, ignoring Lauren.

"I'm fine!" she snapped. Jayden returned her icy gaze gently. Kalla wanted to push him away, to leave and go after the Sword to get this qust over with. She stood, ignoring Lauren's question. "We should be pressing on. The WereDemons aren't going to just wait for us to find the Sword before they attack," she jumped out of the branch, grabbing her pack from her original perch as she did so.

Jayden sighed, frustration making him tense. Lauren looked at her little brother, and began to giggle. The Shogun looked at his sister in confusion and irritation. "What are you laughing at?" he grumbled. Lauren smiled, trying to hide her giggles.

"I'm laughing at you. You never took this much interest in the well being of one Ranger before," she joked. Jayden turned away.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he mumbled. He sighed, then jumped down, leaving Lauren alone for a moment before she too leaped out of the tree.

***Master Mode Power***

Kalla quickly led the Rangers up the mountain, her head swiveling frantically as they got higher up the mountain. The farther up they went, the more Kalla seemed to lead them down strange paths. Crossing narrow ledges rather than taking a long route to the other side safely. She insisted that they go the ways that she saw, and soon the Rangers stopped arguing with her. Suddenly, in the middle of a rocky field with several caves in the mountainsides surrounding the Rangers, Klla paused and looked around. Confusion bloomed across her face, and she kept looking around, spinning in place.

Mia stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on the Ranger's shoulder. "Kalla? What happened? She asked. Kalla turned to Mia, her eyes wild and scared. "Mia….I can't hear it anymore. It led me here, but when I stepped here, the voice, the symbols, they all vanished," Kalla looked around and put her hand behind her ears, pressing them forward, desperate to hear once more. Mia looked back at the others, confusion on her face and no better on theirs.

Emily stepped forward. "Kalla, maybe I can help. My element is Earth, so maybe I can sense the placement of the sword in the caves," she offered.

Kalla nodded, distracted. Emily glanced at the others, and pulled her morpher out. "Symbol Power: Vibrate," Emily quickly drew the symbol, shining yellow. It spun and slammed into the Earth, sending vibrations throughout. Emily closed her eyes, and using her connection to the Earth, she slowly began to relay the information from the vibrations. In the caves, they all seemed to intertwine and then separate…..all but one. The cave to their left, it was the smallest and least conspicuous, hidden by the rock from where they were standing. It held a strange rock formation, like a perfectly cut square. On that square, the vibrations came back sharp and reverberating. Emily smiled and opened her eyes. "Kalla!" The White Ranger turned back to the Yellow.

Emily gently spoke. "The cave to our left, hidden behind that rock face….could that maybe have the voices and symbols you were talking about in it?" Kalla quickly turned and saw the cave. Suddenly, as her eyes gazed at the gaping mouth in the Earth, the voices rushed back to Kalla, urging her into that cave.

The White Ranger smiled, and ran to Emily, throwing her arms around her. "That was brilliant, Em!" she cried, joy in her voice. She pulled away and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry," she burst out.

"For….For the ice and the leaves earlier. I know you were only trying to help me get to know you all better," Kalla's face rose to meet the Yellow Samurai's. Emily smiled and hugged Kalla back.

Antonio spoke up, trying not to sound awkward. "Uh, ahem. As much as I hate to spoil this big break through, don't we kinda have to hurry and grab the Sword?"

Jayden nodded, and led the way into the cave. Dropped their packs at the entrance, Kevin volunteered to stand watch for any signs of trouble.

"Wow, this place in a lot bigger on the inside," Mike commented, his voice echoing around the empty hole in the mountain. Kalla smiled and glanced at Jayden, but not before she saw a flicker of movement deeper in the tunnel. She walked ahead, perring into the depths of the cave.

"Emily, where did you say you felt the Sword?" she asked, not turning around.

"About two hundred feet in, on a small alter that – hey!" Emily yelled. Kalla whirled to the others, her face excited.

Kalla suddenly grabbed Jayden's hand and plunged them into the darkness, dragging him with her. Jayden instantly grew angry; so she was trying to betray them. Jayden instantly readied himself to fight, but as she pulled him, Jayden realized that Kalla was leading him to the Sword of the Shogun, finally, she stopped, and hearing the other's footsteps pounding behind them, yelling their names, Kalla suddenly stopped, and stared in awe at the alter in front of them. Jayden stopped and stared, not noticed how he was slowly intertwining his hands with her.

The small, stony perch for the Sword was a marvel itself. Elabroate symbols of an unknown language rimmed themselves around the top and bottom of the alter, kept in by small borders. A detailed carving of a kind, wise face stared at the Rangers from the side facing them, and Kalla instantly gasped as she met the stony eyes.

"Zordon," she whispered, recognizing the face from her dreams. Jayden smiled, and his attention slowly drifted towards the Sword. It was beautiful, a delicate balance between power and grace. The handle was much like that of the Spin Swords, but carved out of fine wood, and the gem which reflected the disks when spun was made of a shining carved diamond. The blade of the Sword was jagged and deadly, combining a small fraction of a traditional Samurai Sword with that of something of a sci-fi movie sword. Jayden turned as the others finally reached them, and watched as their reaction was the same as his and Kalla's had been. Emily smiled, and kept exchanged glances between the Sword and her friends. Mike smiled and pumped his fist into the air, as Lauren and Kevin looked in awe at the face of Zordon. Mia and Antonio exchanged high fives, and Kalla suddenly stepped forward, her fingers slipping from Jayden's.

Turning his attention back to her, she walked up to the alter, and ran her hand along the stone. She turned back to him and seemed at a loss for words. She motioned for Jayden, and extended her arm to the Sword with a respectful bow of her head, her eyes closing as a smile etched across her lips. Jayden instantly knew what he had to do. He walked forward slowly, unsure that the Sword would accept him. Fear crackled in his fingers; he had lied to his team about being the Red Ranger, Lauren was the firstborn Samurai, the male Red Ranger had fought and defeated Deker by putting an end to the half Nighlok's life. But, as Jayden slowly reached out and wrapped his fingers around the Sword's hilt, nothing happened. Jayden smiled, and lifted the Sword of the Shogun off of its resting place. As the blade skimmed the stone, a sharp scraping sound filled the air, along with the hum of the air as the metal lifted smoothly away from the alter of Zordon.

Jayden turned back to the others, the newest weapon to fight the WereDemons in his hands. Emily smiled and threw her arms around Mike, an excited yelp escaping her lips. That yelp did it. It somehow broke through to the others, and broke their spell of silence. Lauren rushed forward and gave Kalla and excited hug, the two laughing the whole time as they gazed at Jayden and the Sword.

Antonio shouted. "We did it! This is golden!"

Mike smiled, and keeping one arm wrapped around Emily, said in a joking manner, "Man Jayden, I thought that you were never going to take the Sword off of that Alter!" The other laughed, and Kalla and Lauren regrouped with them, and circling excitedly around Jayden.

"We found it. We found the Sword of the Shogun!" Jayden said, holding the Sword out for all of his team to see.

"Yes, you did! And now, thanks to you, I think I'll just take it!" came a new voice. Spinning around, the Rangers saw a WereDemon. He looked odd, like part wolf, part devil, and again, with none of the best attributes of either.

Kalla immediately stepped in front of Jayden and so did Mike, Emily, Mia, and Antonio. Lauren stayed near her brother, but shielded the Sword from view. The White Ranger spoke. "You are never getting this Sword!"

The WereDemon pointed his finger and twitched it back and forth. "Ah, ah, ah, White Ranger! Never say never! The name's Helidron, and I assure you, I never fail a mission!"

Mia spoke, backing up her friend. "Oh yeah? Then you've never met us! We're the Samurai Rangers!"

Jayden instantly wipped out his Samuraizer, folding it twice to activate the writing tip. "Samuraizer!"

The other Rangers followed suit, flipping open their morphers. "Go, Go Samurai!" they yelled.

Antonio joined the sequence. "Samurai Morpher: Gold Power!"

"**_HA_**!" yelled the Rangers as they slashed their symbols. Kalla closed her eyes as the Symbol of Ice filtered through her, transforming her into her Samurai Ranger form.

The Rangers poised themselves into battle stances, all their Swords pointed at the new WereDemon.

Emily spoke. "Guys, there's too little room in here to fight properly without injuring each other! We have to get back to the plateau area!"

Mike nodded, saying "Go guys!" he lunged for the WereDemon, his Sword ready. The others nodded, and when he had the WereDemon pinned to the wall, his Sword almost like a forceful seatbelt on the monster, he turned back to the others, pushing with all his might.

"I got him! Get out of here!" he yelled, continuing to push at the creature. The other Rangers nodded, and Emily yelled "Good Luck!" Mike sensed them leave, but he continued to push at the monster. Finally, it gave an aggravated snarl, and pushed away his sword, and with extremely long claws, slashed at Mike's shoulder, causing the Ranger to lose balance. Helidron slashed at Mike again, this time across his stomach. The Ranger stumbled backwards as the WereDemon laughed.

"Don't strain yourself, Green. I can absorb energy, and I must say, although I hate veggies, your is particularly powerful! If the forest is so strong, I wonder what the others are like!" before Mike could recover, it laughed once more and began to run after the other Rangers, on feet much faster and more nimble than that of a Nighlok.

Mike quickly thought over what he just learned. "He can absorb energy? Why send him- Oh no! Jayden!" getting to his feet, Mike began to run after his friends.

Kalla's eyes squinted as she broke the surface. She turned to the others, glad her expression was hidden under her visor. "Where's Kevin? He was supposed to watch for danger!"

Mia looked around, and then her visor stopped and she gasped, "Kevin!' the others followed her gaze, and saw the Blue Ranger struggling to stand, his blue uniform soaked.

Mia ran over and helped her friend to his feet as the others approached at a much slower pace. Jayden spoke, leader mode on. "What happened?" he demanded.

Kevin spoke, pain and fatigue in his voice. "I was watching when this WereDemon came up the trail we used. He didn't seem to notice me, so I morphed and attacked him. But, he hit me and I felt as if my energy was just sucked away. He hit me so hard that I fell into that pond down there. I was lucky," he added, his voice trailing off. Jayden put his hand on Kevin's shoulder.

"It's ok. I got the Sword. I'll finish him off," he assured his friend. Kalla saw the WereDemon emerge from the cave and shouted a warning.

"Look out!" the others scrambled and they all stood in a line, Kalla replacing Kevin at Jayden's immediate left.

Emily gasped, and fear quaked strongly in her voice. "Where's Mike!" she yelled. She drew her sword, and stepped forward to face the monster. "What did you do to him!"

Jayden stepped forward himself, and readied in a fighting stance. "Guys, stay back. I've got this," he charged, ignoring the Ranger's gasps of protest when their leader attacked the WereDemon.

"Jayden!" Kalla cried, and Lauren looked at her in genuine surprise from under her visor.

Jayden ignored them, and as the monster raised its arm to defend itself from Jayden's blow, it yelled in surprise and pain as the metal made contact with its skin. Jayden smiled darkly under his visor. "With this Sword, you've met your match, Demon!' he yelled. He slashed again, pulling the sword up from Helidron's arm, and slashed him across the stomach. The monster went spinning from the impact and he smoked from the wound. Jayden continued, slashing and cutting away; uppercut, horizontal slash, diagonally, he kept wounding the monster. Finally, the thing stopped, spent as Jayden slammed the Sword down on the creature's shoulder. Jayden waited, listening to its pants of exertion. Suddenly, it began to laugh darkly, and without warning or announcement, Mike finally burst from the cave.

"Jayden! Get the Sword away from him!" Mike yelled, desperate when he saw what was happening. He ran towards his leader, but stumbled and fell to his knees. He kept his eyes on Jayden. Emily rushed to Mike's side and wrapped her arms around her boyrfriend's shoulders.

"Mike, what are you talking about?" she asked. Mike looked at her.

"Jayden has to get the Sword away from that thing! It absorbs energy!"

"What?"

"Don't you get it? It _absorbs energy_! Its after the Sword!" Mike's warning came to late as the things began to laugh.

"Right you are, Green!" with a malicious cackle, it grabbed the blade resting on it's shoulder, and suddenly, Jayden felt the Sword grow heavy. Electric sparks ran over the hand of the WereDemon, and its laughter increased. The Sword grew heavier and heavier, until Jayden dropped it. He stumbled back a bit, staring at the monster.

"Thanks Ranger, for this boost!" Helidron cackled again, and thrust his hand out, sending a spiraling energy ball straight for Jayden. The others moved and tried to block the blast but it was too late. Still in shock, Jayden's reflexes were slowed, and the blast hit him square in the chest, sending him flying. When he crashed into the ground, he rolled, his uniform disappearing in a cloud of Fire symbols. He groaned painfully, and tried to stand, but was left struggling on the ground, his body shrieking in pain like never before.

"Jayden!" yelled the team. The Rangers ran over to their leader, while Kalla and Mia stood in front, carefully ready for another attack. Lauren cradled her brother in her arms, and looked down at him worry radiating from her.

"Jayden! Are you ok?" she cried, extreme worry in her voice. Jayden nodded slightly, but still clutched at his shoulder which had taken the worst of the blast. The Rangers around Jayden looked up as the Monster began to advance.

"Oops! I guess I used a little too much on that one! I wanted to have some fun with you kiddies!" he snorted. "Who's first? Yellow and Green? Pink and Blue? Female Red?" he asked. Kalla stepped forward.

"How about me, huh?" she snarled. She replaced her standard black disc with the White Falcon disc. "Guys, get Jayden some place safe!" Kalla then charged, and when she slashed her sword, the creature caught it, spun her around and twisted her arm.

"Oh, how cute, the White Ranger wants to be a Samurai!" The creature gripped her arm – her scar. Kalla felt a dull pain beginto throb from that mere contact. Helidron lowered his voice. "But we both know that he_ will_ rise again! And it will all be thanks to you!" Kalla popped her Sword out of her twisted arm, and into her free one. Rolling into her twist, she freed her arm and slashed at the creature across the stomach. He stumbled back a bit. Kalla growled, her voice low. "Then I doubt he'll be happy if you kill me!"

Helicron prepared another energy ball, smaller than the last one, and released it at Kalla. Kalla spun her disc and yelled, "Spin Sword: Bliizard Strike!" the white energized ice collided with the energy ball, but before Kalla could react, another was thrown and crashed into her. Kalla instantly lost her morphed form and fell, her sword disappearing with her uniform.

"No!" yelled the Rangers.

"Kalla!" Jayden yelled, pain blasting through him as he worked his rib cage.

The other Rangers stood, furious as Lauren gently set Jayden back on the ground. They stood, and changed their Spin Sword Discs to their respective colors and powers.

"Spin Swords: Quintuple Slash! Barracuda Blade: Barracuda Bite!" Six energy waves charged at Helicron, and six energy waves slammed into him, causing him pain. He yelled, and smoke and explosions surrounded him. But, as the Rangers waited to see what had happened, the creature emerged from the smoke, stumbling.

"Ok, I'll admit that had some punch into it. But, this is my own super attack!" he thrust out his hand, and lightning bolts flew from his fingers.

The Rangers tried to dodge, but they were soon enveloped in the lightning as it crawled over their bodies. Helicron snarled, "No one gets the better of me!" he shot out his hand again, and energy bolts flew from his hand, each one hitting a Ranger. Mike went down first next to Kevin, both already weakened from Helicron's attacks. Emily and Mia fell then, and Lauren, as she struggled to stand, soon gave in to the pain, and even the Red Female Ranger fell to her knees, the last Ranger to demorph from the pain.

Jayden redoubled his efforts to stand, and this time succeeded, struggling to ignore the pain. He slowly walked in front of his team, falling to his knees in the middle of them. Jayden glanced at Kalla's stirring form, and grabbed the nearest Spin Sword. He stood once more, and continued to walk in front of his friends. He put the sword over his shoulder as he ahd done so many times before. Finally, he stood in front of his friends, the last line of defense. He rasied his hand with his father's morpher and struggled to summon the energy to draw a symbol.

Helicron laughed. "You still fight when there's no point? Give up! It'll all be over soon!"

Jayden ignored the temptation. But, his body didn't. Jayden fell to his knees, his arms lurching in front of him, leaving him in a half position. Looking up, and Red Ranger saw the WereDemon preparing a huge attack.

"Goodbye Rangers!" Jayden didn't want to close his eyes. He watched, knowing this was the end as the creature threw the energy ball.

"**_NO! JAYDEN!_**" shrieked a young voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Jayden saw a flash of white, and before he could react, Kalla was in front of him. She held up her hand, and as she painted a symbol, Jayden saw she wouldn't finish it in time to save them. She suddenly yelled.

"SYMBOL POWER! ICE SYMBOL!" Kalla's voice was filled with fury and volition. At first nothing happened, then just as Jayden thought she was about to overhwlemed by the energy blast, a huge brilliant Kanji of Ive blazed in front of the Rangers, and Kalla was its source. It collided with the energy ball, and Jayden held his breath as Kalla braced her hands against her symbol, as if she was supporting the symbol against the attack.

"What is she doing?" Mike coughed, struggling to crouch. Lauren looked up, and her face turned to one of horror.

"Kalla! Stop!" she yelled. Jayden suddenly realized what his sister mean. Kalla's life force was linked to that symbol; she was going to stop that attack – even if it meant her life.

**Sorry. I love cliffhangers! Muahahahahahahahaha!**

**Any guesses as to anything about Kalla's secret, what's gonna happen next? No? Anything? Ok, then just leave a review please!**


	5. Master Mode Power!

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning:**Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Previously: _****"****_NO! JAYDEN!_****" sheieked a young voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Jayden saw a flash of white, and before he could react, Kalla was in front of him. She held up her hand, and as she painted a symbol, Jayden saw she wouldn't finish it in time to save them. She suddenly yelled. "SYMBOL POWER! ICE SYMBOL!" Kalla's voice was filled with fury and volition. At first nothing happened, then just as Jayden thought she was about to overwhelmed by the energy blast, a huge brilliant Kanji of Ive blazed in front of the Rangers, and Kalla was its source. It collided with the energy ball, and Jayden held his breath as Kalla braced her hands against her symbol, as if she was supporting the symbol against the attack. Jayden suddenly realized what his sister meant. Kalla's life force was linked to that symbol; she was going to stop that attack – even if it meant her life. **

Kalla struggled against the force of Helicron's energy attack, her groans and brief cries often showing how much energy the White Ranger was exerting. Pain flashed across her, tempting her to give in and let go; but Kalla persisted as she poured all of her remaining life force into the symbol of her ancestors.

Jayden's voice cut through Kalla: "Kalla! Stop! All this energy you're pouring into the shield – you'll die!"

_That's what I deserve Jayden!_ She wanted to scream. It was all Kalla's fault that this was happening, all her fault that the WereDemons were even plaguing her friends right now. But, given her position, it was much more reasonable for Kalla to refuse Jayden, rather than to argue with him. "I can't! If I let the symbol disappear, then you all will be killed!"

Mia's voice now begged the White Ranger to stop: "Kalla, please just stop! You'll die!"

Kalla couldn't believe their ridiculous reasoning; _so, if she didn't stop the symbol they all would die, but they're begging her to stop when just Kalla alone would perish? Honestly, how stupid could they be about friendship!_ "If I die, then the world will be without one less Ranger! It can't miss eight! So if it drops to seven, who cares!?" She cried out as a small explosion rocked the symbol, but she still held it in place.

Jayden struggled to stand. "Kalla, stop! _Now_!"

"I can't, Jayden! If I do _you will die!_" She screamed, pouring more of her energy into her shield. She sensed that the energy was beginning to get unstable, and Kalla began to brace herself for the end. She had been with the others for only two days, and yet they all wanted her to stay. _Just what am I to them?_

"What? And you think dying yourself will be any better?!"

"Just stop! I have to do this!" Kalla suddenly opened her eyes and with an even more powerful push, the Rangers saw Kalla beginning to regain some ground against the attack. She occasionally cried out at the effort, and just for a moment, Kalla looked behind her. She gazed at the Rangers, mouthing a small sentence. _I'm sorry._

The Rangers began to allow the hope that she would stop burst in their heads, but her eyes squeezed closed and she gave a massive war cry, and the Symbol grew for a brief moment, and then contracted in upon itself, circling around Helidron's attack. An explosion rocked the ground beneath the Rangers' feet and Jayden was forced to throw himself back on the ground for cover as the others shielded their eyes from the blast. Kalla's scream echoed powerfully across the mountains, and Mia after taking a peak swore she saw the explosion's energy morph for a moment, into the shape of a soaring falcon. Finally, one final blast hit the Rangers with a shockwave of energy.

"Noooo!" the Rangers yelled.

Finally, the last of the explosions faded, revealing Kalla's motionless body, slumped on the ground at the center of the blast.

Small bits of ash filled the air from the explosions, clouding the Rangers' vision, but they were certain they saw a form escaping down the trail Kalla had led them. But, struggling to rise to be with their teammate, they slowly stood and aided each other to their feet, panting as disbelief, sorrow, and grief filled them. Jayden was helped to his feet by Antonio, and as they slowly walked towards their fallen Ranger, Jayden picked up the pace into a pained, hobbling jog. He reached the White Ranger first, and scooped her up, cradling her in his arms.

Looking down at her face, Jayden stared in disbelief at the dust and soot covering her frame. "Kalla?" he whispered. He gently shook her as the others settled in pained crouches around her. "Kalla, can you hear me?" to Jayden's intense relief, Kalla's eyes flickered and she slowly opened them, moaning softly.

"Jayden?" her whisper was so weak, Jayden's ears could barely hear her above the ringing left over from the explosions. "Jayden…the others…..safe?" she breathed, her voice only managing to make small words, but the Red Ranger instantly caught her meaning.

"Yes. We're all safe, and all fine, just like you will be too, ok?" the Red Ranger desperately hoped that she would be ok. Jayden especially hated it when the other Rangers tried to protect him from danger and this one would be no different for him.

Kalla shook her head. "I gave…..everything….too late…."

"No!" Emily gasped, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. Mike wrapped Emily in his arms and she turned and buried her face in his chest.

Lauren stepped forward, her voice choked. "We won't leave you! You'll get better!"

Jayden looked into her eyes, desperately cupping her cheek. Lauren saw something flicker in her brother's eyes. "Kala, listen…we….we can use symbol power to help heal you!"

Kalla shook her head. "Go…"

Jayden shook his head. "No! We can't! We're Rangers together, Samurai Forever!"

Mia couldn't take the scene anymore; she turned and buried herself in the nearest person next to her; Kevin. He wrapped a comforting arm around Mia, and then spoke to Kalla. "We never leave a Ranger behind!"

Kalla nodded. "Yes….must…Helidron…..alive…stop…Tene….bris….." suddenly, Kalla's body went limp in Jayden's arms, her head slumping peacefully onto his shoulder. Jayden's hand flew to her neck, and he desperately searched for a pulse. Nothing; no throb at the base of her neck. Jayden desperately checked her wrist, but Lauren reached forward and gently took Jayden's hand.

"Jayden, there's nothing we can do," she rasped. Jayden pulled away from Lauren's grasp.

"There has to be something!" Antonio cried, his voice echoing in the deathly silence.

"Yeah! She can't be gone!" Mike yelled, sorrow dominating reason.

Lauren looked around. "Guys! She's gone! We can't do anything more for her!" Lauren's voice choked on the last word, and she let loose a choked sob.

"No," Jayden whispered. Sorrow overwhelming him, and not wanting his friends to see his anguish, he leaned his forehead against Kalla's, tears clouding his vision. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Oh, how sorry Jayden felt right now. He was sorry he couldn't protect Kalla. He was sorry he failed a teammate, and he was sorry for losing the Sword of the Shogun. Suddenly, the thoughts of the Sword made him snap his eyes open.

The Sword.

Jayden gently set Kalla on the ground, and she looked almost to be sleeping….in the blast marks of a crater. He stood and turned to the others, and they all saw something turning in their leader's head. "The Sword of the Shogun. It may have given him power, but maybe we can use that power against him!"

Mike looked at his leader like he was stupid. "What? You saw what he just did! What Kalla had to do to save us. How can we turn that energy against him?"

Lauren smiled as she realized where her brother was going. "Our Symbol Power! Kalla did say that when its raw and untapped for a while it can do weird things,"

Jayden nodded. "So all we have to do, is when he attacks us with those plasma bolts is open our Symbol Power and absorb it ourselves,"

Kevin looked at Jayden like he was crazy. "But, Jayden, that is very risky. Our bodies are designed only to handle so much symbol power! Even if we could withstand that, we'd have to be running on empty with it!"

Mia nodded. "Jayden, if we try that….." she glanced at Kalla, and decided against her next words; that subject was too raw.

Mike suddenly stepped in front of Emily, and glared at Jayden. "If we try that we'll get ourselves _killed_ Jayden. This is a crazy plan!"

Emily couldn't believe her boyfriend. "Mike! This might be our only chance!" Mike turned back to the Yellow Ranger.

"No, Emily you can't seriously be agreeing with this?"

Emily looked her boyfriend in the eyes. "I am. Because Jayden's right Mike; we have to redirect the energy of the Shogun Sword at him," she lowered her voice as she continued. "Don't worry about me. We have a job to do,"

Mike grabbed her hands gently, and placed them over his heart. "Emily, I just…..I just don't want anything bad to happen to you," he breathed. Emily smiled. "You've been saying that since Spiltface," she giggled.

Mike shook his head, her smile contagious. "Don't remind me of that Nighlok. I went crazy when he attacked you,"

Jayden cleared his throat. "Not that this isn't sweet, you two," he smiled, "but we still have Helidron to finish. Kalla….Kalla said that her shielding us wasn't enough to destroy him. We have to stop him, without the Sword of the Shogun,"

Antonio stepped forward. "Then lets go!" as they started to head towards the trails, Kevin looked back.

"Wait! What are we going to do about her body?" He said, looking back at the fallen Ranger. The others stopped and looked at Jayden, but the Red Shogun turned away in grief.

Lauren stepped forward immediately. "We'll come back for her; right now we have a job to do," the Rangers nodded as one and immediately ran down the trail, leaving behind a Ranger for the first time.

***Master Mode Power***

"Last year, Paranorma City had been flooded with a mysterious corrosive acid that had destroyed many of the lower shops, trees and had even drowned several people. However, several young people, each in a costume associated with the Angel Grove Power Rangers – as Angel Grove officials had confirmed – and they somehow stopped the attack on the city, and drew away the floods. Now, Paranorma faces a threat just like last year, except without the strange red substance. A creature has been seen attacking the city-" and three fingered claws went straight through the TV of the special electronics store, and Helidron grumbled, "I hate hearing about myself on TV," he turned and people kept screaming and crying out at his appearance.

"Oh, sure, run and scream. Big deal. I need you pansies to cry your eyes out – tears are the best way for King Tenebris to reform!" he cackled, and continued to walk, occasionally shooting out energy bolts to keep scaring the humans. Helidron sighed. "Without the Rangers this is going to be almost too easy for King Tenebris!"

"Think again, Helidron!" came a very angry voice. Helidron turned around and saw seven colorful uniformed brats.

"Ah, so you survived, eh? Aw, but where's the White Ranger? What could've happened to her?" Helidron was actually shocked, but Kalla's living allies took it as an insult.

"Don't you dare even mention her! She died protecting each and every one of us!" Kevin yelled.

Mia nodded. "That's right! And now, for her, we're going to stop you!"

Helidron suddenly began to babble to himself. "Oh dear, oh dear! Oh dear, oh dear! OH DEAR! Umbrious is so going to kill me! She wasn't supposed to be killed!"

None of the Rangers heard the WereDemon's small panic attack. Jayden turned to his team. "Remember, try to release your symbol power before absorbing his energy,"

"Right!" The Rangers nodded.

"Ready guys?" Jayden asked as his team all took a warrior stance.

Helidron suddenly spoke loud enough for them to hear: "I'll kill you all! Kalla won't save you this time, and maybe I can redeem myself!"

Jayden instantly felt himself succumb to the flaming rage inside his heart. "You can never redeem what you've done to the Rangers!" he yelled. He lunged forward and the others gasped at Jayden's recklessness

"Jayden! What. Has. Gotten. Into. You!" Lauren yelled through clenched teeth. She turned to the others, raising her hand. "Let's go after him!"

The Rangers leaped down, in time to see Jayden and the monster stumble apart after attacking each other. "Argh! I've had it! Dolums! Come forth and fight!" suddenly, out of the shadows, melted the smaller wolf-like monsters, their teeth yellow and their swords gleaming. They gathered around their WereDemon master.

Jayden stood as his friends swarmed around him. Jayden sensed something was wrong and instantly spoke to Helidron. "That was for the White Samurai Ranger!"

"jayden!" Lauren snapped. "Stop it!"

Jayden paused when he heard genuine anger from his sister. "What?" he growled. Lauren stepped forward and he turned his head towards her.

"Get your head off of that mountain, right now Jayden! Kalla wouldn't want you fighting like this – she would want you to carry on with this battle between good and evil!" Lauren's words cut deep into Jayden. But he sensed that something else was bothering his older sibling.

"I'm sorry," Jayden said. "But look, we do have to focus on taking him down. As a team; so right now, as your fight these Dolums, use symbol power- lots of it,"

"Dolums! Attack!" yelled Helidron. As his wolf minions snarled, howled, barked, and leered their way to the rangers, the monster himself disappeared it seemed.

Jayden and the others quickly separated and began to fight and slash at the Dolums, each seeming to be the center of a mob. Jayden madehis move first, ready to deplete his symbol power inside.

"Fire Smasher!" he yelled. Spinning his sword up and around over his head, the Red Ranger's sword was completely swallowed by a bright light as his Spin Sword took the shape of a huge red sword. Attaching the Lion Fire Disk to the console of the Mega Weapon, Jayden got ready to bash the Dolums. "Fire Smasher: Blazing Strike!" Spinning the console and the disc, Jayden's red Mega Weapon lit itself on fire. Spinning his huge sword in a circle, Jayden took out the first row of Dolums, straining to stay strong against the wave of symbol power that left him. The Dolums that were hit by the Fire Smasher howled in an unearthly voice, and disappeared in flames. The other Dolums around Jayden lunged forward.

Mia and Lauren were stuck in a ring together, while Emily and Antonio were stuck in a separate patch each.

"Hey, Lauren!" The Pink Ranger yelled to the Red. She was wielding her Sky Fan against the Dolums, and was doing a good job at it too. "Ever hear how fans just make flames stronger!"

Lauren instantly caught up. 'Spin Sword: Blazing Strike!"

"Airway!" Mia yelled, using her attack to boost Lauren's, combining their Symbol Powers.

The Dolums instantly were all burned, and the amount of symbol power combined created a huge path down one side of the Ranger's Dolums.

Kevin, the Blue Ranger, instantly followed his team's moves. "Mike! Let's do a Mega weapon combo!"

"You got it, Kev!" Mike and Kevin both spun the primary disks, and their Weapons shone and changed.

"Hydro Bow!" Kevin yelled.

"Forest Spear!" Mike cried. The two took out special disks from their belts.

"Swordfish and Beetle spinning combo!" the Two Rangers yelled together. They links arms and began to spin, levitating in the air quite a bit. Finally, Mike's Beetle Disk began to warp his Forest Spear, sweeping to take out special enemies every now and then. Kevin's Hydro bow began to shoot out powerful arrows, each exploding on contact with the Dolums. As their area cleared of the wolfy enemies, they stopped spinning and landed.

"Whoa! I didn't know that we could do that!" Mike exclaimed. Kevin nodded, as exhaustion began to wash over him. Suddenly, the two Rangers were bombarded with the similar attacks that Kalla had died to protect them from, and the two rolled away.

"Kevin! Mike!" Emily and Mia cried. They ran over with Antonio and Lauren coming in from the opposite direction.

They helped the two Rangers to their feet and slowly they all realized they had drained a lot of symbol power already. Transforming a Spin Sword to the Mega Weapon of that Ranger took a lot of symbol power. Using a specialized disc took more, and sometimes, it took as much as demorphing an exhausted Ranger.

Jayden joined the team, his Fire Smasher on his shoulder.

"You guys ok?" he asked.

Kevin and Mike nodded.

"Oh! I've had with all of you!" Helidron's voice rang through the air and Jayden immediately ducked everyone behind the Fire Smasher. The Shiba Fire Mega Weapon immediately shook with the force of the blasts.

"Jayden! We have to be out there to absorb those blasts!" Mia reminded him. Jayden clenched his teeth. "Guys, I know but…I can't let another one of us down! I just can't!"

Suddenly, a huge blast rocked the Fire Smasher and it morphed back into Jayden's Spin Sword.

"So, it seems that your symbol power is running on empty, eh? No matter! I can regenerate off of what is left of your powers!" Helidron extended a clawed hand to the Rangers, and ran at them.

Jayden instantly knew this wasn't good. He had been counting on the Shogun Sword's energy to keep up Helidron's so they could turn it against him. However, from what he just said, it looked like they were on even ground once again, with the Samurai tipping dangerously to one side. Jayden braced himself ready to fight when a small, white wolf Zord, not in Mega Mode yet, flew out of nowhere and ran right into the WereDemon. The creature let out a yell and fell to the ground.

"What?" the Rangers gasped.

"Do I always have to save your butts?!" came a slightly annoying, yet fully endearing voice. The Rangers turned, and none other than Kalla, the Kalla who had died on the mountain, was walking towards them, her stride powerful and her head held high, her caramel colored locks billowing behind her.

She stepped in an open area. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked at her team. "Honestly? I cannot leave you guys alone for one battle? One battle!" Even though she was scolding her friends like she was their mentor, Jayden saw her eyes glittering with delight, and joy as she saw them.

"What? But you were dead!" Helidron yelled in despair.

Kalla looked at him, and waved at her body. "Uh, Ugly? Do I look dead to you?"

"Argh! Now I'll have to kill the others, and take you with me to King Tenebris!" groaned the despairing WereDemon.

Kalla suddenly held out a small object. Looking closer, Jayden saw it was her morpher, but something seemed off about it. Instead of it being the traditional red color, it was white with a strange crest on it. "I've got this guys. Just recover for the moment, alright?" Before anyone could stop her, Kalla yelled out the strangest morphing call.

"Samuraizer! Go: Master Mode Power!" She drew her symbol, which instead of the traditional white outline around her symbol, it was outlined in a golden shine. She swiped it, and as she did, white Ice Symbols crawled up her arms and legs, revealing the oddest uniform. It was still quite similar to the Traditional Samurai Ranger design, but she no longer had the female skirt around her waist. Her white uniform was striped black on her sides, suspiciously like a tiger, and her Visor, though it still held her symbol, her helmet resembled that of a wolf head, although it was slim and not too over bearing on her head. Her gloves now had a silverfish sheen to them, and she looked down at her Spin Sword as it reattached herself to her hip.

"Samurai Master Ranger! Ready!" she yelled, taking an open clawed wide stance on her own.

"Um, you guys are seeing this too, right?" Emily asked.

"Yeah," came Jayden's half hearted reply. He was watching Kalla intently. Lauren sighed, and there was something dark in her sigh.

Kalla came out of her pose. "Oh wow! So this is what my Wolf Zord was talking about! I gained the Master Mode Power!"

"Huh? What in the world is this?"

Kalla gave another wave over her body. "You're looking at the White Master Samurai Power Ranger! And let me tell you – with my new Power as a Master Ranger, I can take you down alone!"

Helidron laughed. "Oh this is rich! I needed a new power source, and instead of draining what was left of those losers' powers, I can drain your Master powers, and destroy you all!"

Kalla smiled. "But, can you do that without touching me?"

Helidron looked at her, all confused. "Huh?"

"Winter Wolf Whip!" Suddenly, with a spin of the standard black Samurai Disk, Kalla's spin sword transformed into a long, white whip. At the handle, blazed her symbol proudly, along with a small attachment console were she could put her new disk.

Kalla's Winter Whip wasn't much to look at after she put her disk on; the Whip contracted in on the handle, leaving her looking as if she was carrying a sword with no blade.

"What? So all that show, and now Whip? Ha!" Helidron instantly began to run for her.

Kalla instantly stood in a wide stance, one wider than average since she no longer had the hindering skirt. "I'm gonna whip you into shape!" she cried, throwing out her arm with the Whip on it. The Winter Whip suddenly shot out, and slapped over and over onto the WereDemon, and then effectively wrapped itself around the WereDemon's leg.

Kalla turned and as if she was casting out a long distance fishing line, she made a throwing motion. "I guess I have a leg up on you!" she yelled, yanking Helidron into the air. Her Whip unwound itself, and retracted once more. She changed her Whip back into a Spin Sword, and slipped her new power disc out of her belt.

"Wolf Disc! Spin Sword: Avalanche!" Kalla brought her Spin Sword high above her head, her blade glowing white with Arctic energy, and she brought it down, the powerful attack slashing the WereDemon in half in mid air. Helidron sparked dangerously, and when he landed, some safe distance from the Rangers themselves and from any passerby, Kalla turned around and demorphed in small cloud of white symbols, her icy eyes sparkling with joy. But, seeing the others once more, Kalla's eyes instantly let that wall back up and protected herself from eyes she didn't want inside of her heart.

**Ok, so Kalla is Master Mode Power Ranger Samurai! Oh, yeah baby! My own made up Power Ranger upgrade! I got the idea from Jungle Fury, I will admit! They had the "Jungle Master Mode!" and then all that talk about the Samurai needing to "master this" or master that or something f that sort. So I thought, sarcastically at first, god! If they wanna be Masters, why aren't they Master Samurai! And ding came this idea. : ) not too bad, if I do say so myself. ….Ok, it was a corny idea, but I wanted to incorporate a power above Super Samurai since Jayden and Kevin, and on occasion, Mike, hogged the Black Box; I wanted to give something to the whole team equally!**

**Oh, and I hope that this satisfies you guys for a bit….schools starting again soon, so I need to catch up on my acedemics…sowwy…..(oh, and yes I did not have a Mega Zord fight…..cause….well, only Kalla has a Master Zord and Master Zord cannot combine with Standard Zords. **

**Anyhoo, any guesses as to Kalla's secret, what will lie ahead, and any ways I can make this ****_better_**** will always and forever be appreciated…..just do it in the reviews, kk? See ya'll next chapter!**


	6. Forbidden

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own the plot, OC, the made up Power, and anything else that hasn't appeared on the show.

**Warning: **Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Previously: Kalla gave her life to save the Rangers from Helidron's attack. But, when she passed, the Rangers were forced to go after the monster to stop him from hurting people. Jayden comes up with a plan, saying that they might be able to stop him if they absorb Helidron's energy, and turn it back at the WereDemon. However, during the fight before the Rangers have a chance to try their plan, Hleidron reveals that he plans to destroy them and take their energy to replenish his own, implying that he lost the power of the Shogun Sword. Just as he is about to attack the exhausted Rangers, Kalla shows up to save them – as Master Mode Samurai?! Just what exactly happened to her?_**

**_WARNING!: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND LOTS OF KALLA/JAYDEN FLUFF. THIS IS THE PROCESS TO HELP THE NEXT SAMURAI GAIN THE MASTER POWER, SO OTHER RANGERS/COUPLES WILL BE FOCUSED ON IN LATER CHAPTERS._**

Jayden and the others demorphed, seeing that the WereDemon wasn't turning himself into a Mega Monster. Kalla was just standing there, her blue eyes guarded. Suddenly, something awoke in those eyes, and she ran for them, going to Mia first. She checked over the Pink Ranger, and Jayden couldn't help but notice how she seemed to avoid looking into his eyes. "Are you guys ok?" she asked, worry coming out strong.

Lauren managed to nod, and stand along with the others. Jayden kept trying to catch Kalla's eyes but she wouldn't look at him.

"Kalla..how did you… I mean, you were…" Even sure mouthed Antonio couldn't speak without stuttering. Kalla smiled hesitantly.

"I know. I was a little confused myself, after I woke up," Kalla said. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out two things; one was a white disk with silver designs in the shape of a running wolf. The other was a small diamond shape Zord in Folded position. "I had these next to me when I awoke. This is the Wolf Master Disc. And this, is my Master Zord, the wolf!" The small diamond folding transformed and revealed a small dog-like figurine. It gave a small bark and a snarl, before folding in on itself once more, and resting in Kalla's hand. "Really, I don't care how it happened, or why. I'm just glad to see you're all safe," Kalla's eyes glittered with something close to a happiness that would bring tears to all of their eyes.

Kalla let out a nervous laugh, and wiped her eye. Then, before Jayden could control himself any longer, Kalla turned to him, and her eyes met his. They changed from joy filled to a bit fearful. She bowed her head. "Please, forgive me, Jayden. I know I disobeyed you but I swear; I am so sorry for what I put you guys through when that happened," Kalla wiped her eyes from genuine tears now, and continued to look at the ground, her eyes tightly closed. "I just didn't want any of you to be hurt. I will do everything and anything that I can to-"

The Red ranger cut her off when he stepped forward and she flinched, as if expecting a harsh rebuttle; Jayden surprised her by instead by wrapping his arms around her tightly, one hand in her hair, the other wrapped around her middle pressing her to his body. "I don't care what happened. I'm just glad that you're ok," he murmured. Kalla hesitated, and then wrapped her arms around him.

Antonio and the others were shocked a little; Jayden had never expressed such strong emotions like this ever before. But as he pulled away, Mia lunged forward with Emily in tow, throwing their arms around Kalla. Kalla laughed as the other Rangers immediately made it a group hug, with Kalla suffocating from all the squeezing.

***Master Mode Power***

Kalla was stuck in the middle next to Lauren and Antonio and the two wouldn't let her budge to the back of their group for her solitude. Jayden, Kevin and Mia hung in the Back while Mike and Emily helped Lauren and Antonio bombard the White Samurai with questions, statements, compliments on her Master Mode form, and many other things. Poor Kalla was beginning to look overwhelmed.

When they finally reached the Shiba House, Kalla couldn't hold back a sigh of relief when Mentor stepped out of the doors, smiling. The Rangers all smiled back, and Mike broke away from the group, ready to blurt out everything that had happened to Ji. However, before he could, Emily raced up next to him and began to babble about the journey, the Sword, Kalla's death, the fight, Kalla's appearance in the battle, as Mike was flustering around about the Master Mode power.

Ji looked startled by the reports, but once he heard from Emily – vaguely- that the Sword was lost, Ji held up a hand, his face hard and stern. "You _lost_ the Sword?" Ji couldn't help but throw a angry glance at Kalla who met his gaze evenly. Lauren stepped in front of Kalla, her voice as angry as Ji's expression.

"Kalla didn't do anything! So would you stop blaming her about the damn Sword!"

Everyone looked taken aback – especially Kalla herself, who always thought Lauren was cool and collected. But, before any could respond, Kalla knew she couldn't let this go.

"Lauren, it's ok," she murmured, brushing past the Red Female Ranger. The White Samurai Looked at Ji calmly, and her icy eyes held a warning. "Ji," she said.

"Kalla," Mentor sized up. "I am not going to say that I am surprised you lost the Sword,"

Kalla crossed her arms. "We had it. If you would like to hear the whole story, then maybe you'll see intentions were not for failure, Mentor," she was practically growling at the Guardian of the Shiba Clan.

Ji hesitated, and then he nodded, gesturing for everyone to come inside.

***Master Mode Power***

".,,. And that's when Kalla used a new disc to defeat Helidron with her Spin Sword," Kevin finished nervously. Ji was looking at Kalla who had taken to leaning against the square arch that led into the room. She was looking intently at the floor, her eyes glued to it and her arms crossed over her chest, her hands into fists, but her eyes were wide, and observant as well as her hair had been pulled back over her ears to keep her hearing at maximum.

Ji stayed silent, his mouth pursed into a thin line as he furrowed his brows. "It would seem that Kalla has unlocked a very ancient power, I believe. The Grand Shogun and the Original Samurai Rangers did once unlock this power. The legends never mentioned what, but it is said they had to fight with a higher energy against the Nighlok when Master Xandred was attacking them. As you know they wouldn't have been able to use the Black Box, so this must be the power that the legends mentioned,"

Kalla suddenly spoke, not shifting her stance at all. "The Wolf Disk told me that it had been sleeping for generations. It had always been waiting for the right Ranger when they would awaken. She also mentioned how her siblings were anxiously awaiting to choose their own Rangers, since the power has reentered the world,"

The Rangers looked at her like she was crazy. "The Wolf Disk _told_ you?" Mike said.

Kalla nodded. "It was after I….passed. I was surrounded by these voices tormenting me, haunting me. Then, a howl seemed to chase them all away. I looked around, and suddenly, the Wolf Zord appeared in front of me, growling. I thought I was done for," Kalla's eyes hardened. "Then, it asked me how I passed into the void. I told it, and I awoke, hearing the Wolf Zord still speaking to me. I held out my hand, not willingly, and the Wolf Disk just appeared in a flash of light," Kalla looked away.

Lauren nodded. "Right now, I'm just glad that she's okay. We all thought that she was gone for good,"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, especially Jayden," at that, both Kalla's and Ji's heads snapped up.

"What?" they growled at the same time. Kalla's eyes were filled with terror, while Ji was looking very disappointed.

Mike nodded, noticing neither one of their expressions. "Yeah. Jayden went all crazy at the battle. When Helidron mentioned Kalla's name, Jayden just charged at him like there was nothing more important than avenging the Rangers for their loss,"

Jayden squirmed uncomfortably under the gazes that met him, one brown and sad, the other icy and filled with fear. Kalla turned away, muttering something about going to train and she disappeared down to the dorm rooms. Jayden wished with all his heart that he could go after her, but pushed it aside. _The team comes first, Jayden._ He reminded himself. _I can't let this distract me from my duties as the Red Ranger._

So why did his mind keep wandering back to when he had held Kalla after the battle?

***Master Mode Power- One Week Later***

Kalla was furiously beating on the dummy, ignoring the sharp vibrations the bamboo sword sent up her arms. She sensed the others, training as they watched her, but it only added to Kalla's fury, her attacks became more intense with each and every blow. Finally, Kalla paused, and turned back to the benches for a drink of water. As she did, she realized that the sun had set and everyone was inside.

Everyone except for Jayden, who was standing in the doorway, his sparring gear still on. She huffed, and glared at him. Turning away angrily, Kalla downed her drink, and walked back to the dummy.

"Are you going to dive yourself to the point where you can't even stand?"

Kalla ignored Jayden, and slammed her sword into the dummy again and again.

"Kalla, look you have to answer me sometime,"

Kalla gritted her teeth, and kept banging the dummy, waiting for him to get that message.

"Kalla, just what do I have to do? I feel like whenever I can begin to reach out to you, you shrink back,"

Kalla's fury peak and she yelled as she brought down her sword. This time, there was no vibrations; as her sword met the dummy, Kalla had struck and swung so hard that her sword broke in two.

Kalla turned to her Red Ranger, her eyes and heart furious. "You don't understand?" she growled.

Jayden looked at her, his eyes narrowing in a warning.

"You don't understand? Okay, Jayden. I've heard it from Mike, how you were after I went under. I remember how you held me after the battle, the first night I was here. I remember each and every word you have spoken in the week that I have known you. And to top it all off, that scares the living crap out of me!" Kalla's eyes flew wide open, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"What?" Jayden whispered.

Kalla sighed. "Jayden, I've seen the way that you treat me differently from the others. I've checked myself every time I look at you in a way that I shouldn't. All I can remember when I'm under the stars is the night when I told you my parents were dead," Kalla looked away. "I just don't want you distracted by that, ok? I just don't want this battle to become me protecting you and you protecting me. So please. Just stop looking at me differently," she dropped the half of the sword she was still holding and sank to her knees. Jayden walked forward, and sat in front of her, sighing.

"Kalla," Jayden said. Kalla refused to meet his eyes. "Kalla, look at me" Kalla didn't budge.

"Kalla, to be completely honest….I have been fighting my feelings. I don't know why I have been like this towards you; I don't. That is the most honest answer I can give you,"

Kalla looked at hi, her eyes shining. 'But, Jayden. We can't," she whispered. She stood, determined to get away from him. "And we shouldn't. It would be fair to the team if you protected me just because of how you felt, Jayden," Jayden stood, and to his surprise, clasped Kalla's hands in his.

"Kalla, this battle we're in – each fight could be our last, and you know that as well as I do. But right now, in this way of thinking, I don't care about that. When I'm Red Ranger, that's when I will do anything to save the Earth – to save you, Lauren, Mike, Ji, all of them. Ut right now, when it's just the two of us, all I care about is your happiness," Kalla turned her back to him as he stood.

"Kalla, you never seem happy when you're not out there fighting. You always hide something from us, you always seem to have to keep your past hidden, and you always exhaust yourself," Jayden's voice began to rise to a plea.

Kalla refused to turn back to him. "I haven't have anything to hide," she murmured.

Jayden gently touched her shoulder. "Then please, stop hiding yourself. You are a wonderful person, I know you are," Jayden gently pulled on her shoulder, desperate for her to talk to him. She turned and faced him. She quickly spoke.

"This is besides the point, and you know it. We can't feel like this, Jayden. We can't,"

Jayden put his hands behind her head. "I don't care. All I care about is making you smile, Kalla. Yes, I did go crazy when I lost you, but only because I hate it when someone has to sacrifice themselves for me,"

Kalla's eyes suddenly flickered to his lips. They were so close that she could smell Jayden's sweet breath. Kalla was suddenly, and acutely aware that they were in privacy for the moment. "Jayden, just promise me that if this ever ends peacefully…that we can try to talk,"

Jayden didn't respond. He slowly, hesitantly leaned forward just as Kalla did. They gently brushed noses as the distance closed, and Kalla's eyes closed as her lips finally met Jayden's. His lips were warm, soft, and oh, they melted Kalla's hidden heart, and she felt a blush creep up through her heart and flame into her cheeks. Kissing Jayden….oh, Kalla had hoped that she could fight her sinful feelings for him, praying they were truly hers. She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck, urging him on, as on hand slipped to the back of her head, and the other to the small of her back, pressing her to him. Jayden couldn't believe that he was doing this – he knew what Kalla was saying was true, but his heart had taken him over, which was rare for him. Jayden loved nothing more than the feel of her in his arms. He wanted to hold her, cherish her – hell, he would give his life for her. And she would give her life again for him, Kalla knew.

Jayden deepened the kiss, and Kalla made no attempts to stop him, forgetting for a moment about their job. Forgetting that she and he could never be together as long as Tenebris was a threat. She forgot to keep her guard up, and make sure no others were present in watching them do this forbidden act. Kalla forgot everything but the warmth, the softness of Jayden's lips against hers, and she smiled inside her heart, warmed up for the first time in her life.

Kalla suddenly came to her senses, and pushed on his shoulders sharply, hating herself for getting lost in his kiss.

She hated how her cheeks flamed in the evening light, and she hated how her lips felt tingly and lost right after she pulled away.

"Promise me," she whispered, desparate for him to come to his senses and push her away.

Jayden smiled shyly. "I thought that I just did,"

**_Ah, finally, a kissing scene! I was dying when I wrote that scene, and I swear, I edited it about seven times to try and make it perfect! I hope that you guys likey! Now, I wanna make two announcements; two contests!_**

**_One: I would like to see designs for a cover for this story PRS: Master Mode Power! The cover must include Kalla, Jayden, the Power Rangers logo, (samurai adds bonus points) and two eyes of what you guys think Tenebris's eyes will look like. _**

**_Two: You may have noticed that I am pressing Kalla and Jayden's relationship. I would love to see one shots, reviews, anything – to incorporate what you guys think is keeping Kalla from accepting her feelings for Jayden. A scene between them would be good, if you are writing a one shot. Just credit Kalla to me, ok?_**

**_Anyhoo, I am also open to suggestions, comments, and concerns of this story as it rises. : ) I seriously hope that you guys enjoy this chapter, as it will be the last one that you guys will be getting for a WHILE. ENJOY! See you next chapter!_**


	7. Ignite the Fight

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own my OC, this particular plot, and the Master Mode form.

**Warning: **Flame reviews will not be tolerated, and thoroughly ignored.

**_Summary: It has been exactly one year to the day, that the Rangers defeated Master Xandred. However, unknown to the scattered Samurai, a new evil overthrew what was left of the Nighlok forces and slowly began to nurture itself in the shadows. Their goal is to cause enough fear to awaken their King, Tenebris, from his long slumber so he could conquer the Earth. When the Rangers are aided by the White Ranger, a Ranger lost in time, they will have to face the ultimate battle. Love will sprout, evil will rise, and friendship will be tested, like never before. JaydenXOC_**

**_Previously: Kalla reveals that she awoke with the Master Disk of the Wolf. As they return to the Shiba House, Ji reflects that the Master power must be ancient and once used by the Original Samurai Rangers. However, Mike accidently lets it slip that Jayden's emotions peaked to fury during battle after Kalla died, leaving her worried and terrified of what it means. One week later, Kalla and Jayden argue, Jayden insisting that things would work out between them, but Kalla makes up many excuses to keep Jayden's heart away from hers. Before Kalla can control herself, though, she and Jayden kiss, believing that no one saw them do this forbidden deed._**

**_Announcements; two contests! One: I would like to see designs for a cover for this story PRS: Master Mode Power! The cover must include Kalla, Jayden, the Power Rangers logo, (samurai adds bonus points) and two eyes of what you guys think Tenebris's eyes will look like. Two: You may have noticed that I am pressing Kalla and Jayden's relationship. I would love to see one shots, reviews, anything – to incorporate what you guys think is keeping Kalla from accepting her feelings for Jayden. A scene between them would be good, if you are writing a one shot. Just credit Kalla to me, ok? Also, I apologize for this REALLY late update…I promise that I will try to stay on top of my stories more often. : )_**

Lauren shrank against the wall in her room, her heart pounding. What she just seen? Lauren pressed her face into her hands, desperate to calm her furiously beating heart. Kalla's scar, open to the world, with blood streaming from her mouth and a darkness glittering in her eyes…... Lauren shook the nightmare away. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, Lauren flung back her sheets and stepped onto the cold floor. Walking out, Lauren barely glanced at the clock; she knew that it was very early. Stumbling through the poorly lit house, Lauren made her way to the kitchen areas.

Stepping through the sliding door, Lauren saw a hunched figure sitting in the dark, shaking. Flipping on the lights, Lauren squinted as she met Kalla's eyes. The icy blue eyes of the White Ranger were filled with glassy tears, fear, exhaustion, and something close to pain. Lauren at first thought that Kalla was upset over her family's deaths, as she did mourn them often, but Lauren slowly became worried as Kalla's eyes remained dull and unfocused, just staring at her hands in her lap.

"Kalla?" Lauren said softly. She walked forward and placed her hand on the Samurai's shoulder, keeping her eyes on her face the whole time. Kalla's eyes instantly widened, and lit up with something like the light of battle and fear. Kalla grabbed Laren's wrist and twisted it sharply. Lauren cried out in surprise and pain. Kalla's grip instantly loosened and Lauren felt the pain in her arm disappear.

"Oh my gosh! Lauren!" Kalla gasped. She backed a couple steps away, her eyes filled with dread. Lauren turned to her with a friendly smile, rubbing her aching wrist.

"I'm ok," she tried to reassure Kalla, but she was drowned out by a clamor of footsteps as the others raced into the kitchen.

Jayden spoke, his eyes all for his sister; "Lauren! Are you ok? We heard you yell,"

Lauren nodded. "I just surprised Kalla is all," she reassured her brother. Jayden's gaze met Kalla's and Lauren suddenly felt a cold pit grow in her stomach when she saw how her brother was looking at Kalla.

Lauren turned to Kalla, but the White Samurai was walking through the Rangers back to her room. Lauren saw the hunger in Jayden's face.

"Um, just go back to sleep guys. I'll be ok," the others nodded, Mike leaving at 'go'. Jayden hesitated and looked at Lauren. "I'm sorry she hurt you," Jayden said.

Lauren narrowed her eyes. "What did I just see?" she blurted. Lauren instantly wished that she could shove those words back in her mouth, but Jayden looked at her, confusion in his brown eyes.

"Excuse me?" Jayden stuttered, puzzled.

Lauren looked away, startled by her own words. But there was no taking them back; she had to reply to her brother.

"Jayden, I've seen the way you look at her and it scares me. You know that you of all people cannot be distracted right now," Lauren did truly believe these words flowing from her mouth. However, she had always feared telling her brother them, worried what he would think of her once she did tell him. "Kalla has a past clouded by uncertainty, and we truly do not know everything about her or why she chooses to keep apart from the rest of the team, Jayden. And is it just a coincidence that the WereDemons follow her? Don't you ever think-"

"Lauren!" Jayden motioned for her to be quite and the Shiba sister finally realized that her voice was rising to a dangerous level.

Jayden stuck his head out in the hallway and slowly shut the door, as to muffle the noise as best he could. Turning back to his sister, Jayden's eyes were confused and angry.

"Don't judge Kalla; you don't know what she's been through as of late because of those monsters. I know that she's a good person, and I know she-"

Lauren scoffed, cutting her brother off. "You _know_?! Wait, wait a minute. You _know_ Kalla is truly good, and you barely know her? How can you defend someone you barely know?" Lauren looked at him, her eyes narrowing. "How can you _love_ her when you barely _know_ who she truly is?" she hissed. Pushing past her brother, Lauren walked down the hallway, feeling her brother's pain and realization following her to her bed.

***Master Mode Power***

Kalla breathed and she struggled to control her emotions before existing her room. _Remember, you don't really know that much about him. It's just a…..ugh, I cannot believe that I am using this term, but it's just a small sexual attraction we have to each other. Yeah, that's it._ Kalla nodded.

**_Drawing someone towards you is something you must take care of, Kalla. You never know when darkness will step in and twist your judgement. _**Kalla winced as those words sang deep within her. Her father used to say that to her, but she definitely wasn't remembering him with those words. _If I don't think about you, it never happened. _Kalla nodded steeled herself against the possibility of seeing Jayden, and walked out of her room, knowing that her shadows were the darkest of them all.

Kalla smiled as she saw Mike and Kevin training in their uniforms. Mia and Emily were sparring with the boys, working as two teams. Kalla suddenly noticed something odd about the uniforms. Instead of the black cloth protecting their arms as usual, Kalla noticed their arms were bare as their muscles flexed and flowed. Kalla stared down at her arm, hiding her mark through the black cloth that went to her shoulders.

"Guys," she called. Mike paused and backed away, showing that he was out for the moment. "What happened to the uniforms?"

Mike looked at his elbow. "Oh yeah. This is what our old training outfits were like, so we decided to bring back some memories," Mike jumped back into the fight, blocking Kevin from Mia's blow.

"Yeah. It helped us to keep our muscles cool when we were training," came a voice from behind her. Turning around, Kalla felt her heart slam into her throat when she saw Jayden's bare arms. _Oh boy. So much for trying to fight my feelings_. Kalla's thoughts whimpered.

His arms weren't bulky like she knew girls should like, but they were lean and strong with tan skin showing that he had trained long and hard under the sun. Jayden's arms…..Kalla finally understood why she felt so protected when she was wrapped safely within them. Shaking her head, Kalla looked sharply away. _No! Don't think about how his arms felt around you!_

Kalla turned and tried not to stomp over to the sparring swords as they sat there on their rack, waiting for a Samurai.

Kalla grabbed one, and without warning, turned ad jumped into the fight with the other four Samurai. She blocked a blow from Mike to Mia's shoulder, twisted her sword around and made Mike loosen his grip on the sword. With a flick of her wrist, Kalla pushed Mike's sword out of his hand and as he stared at it, she deftly kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling immediately jumped to help her boyfriend, the previous fight forgotten. Kalla blocked Emily's blow with her forearm, and turned, wrenching the sparring sword out of Emily's hand and into Kalla's free hand, giving the White Samurai Ranger two sparring weapons, ready to wield. As she shifted Emily's sword into her hand, Kalla swept- kicked Emily's legs out from under her. Kevin and Mia double teamed Kalla, instinct telling them to protect their friends, But Kalla blocked their blows, each on one of her swords. Mia tried to wrench hers back, and she left herself open to Kalla's sensed. Kalla immediately pushed upwards on Mia's sword, pushing the Samurai away off balance, and spun, slamming her sword into Kevin's stomach while keeping her blocked one on the Blue Ranger's sword. All four Rangers, now defeated by Kalla groaned, and Kalla suddenly gasped, horrified she had taken out her frustration on the others.

"Oh my gosh! I swear I didn't… what I mean is….I really didn't want to…" Kalla stuttered, confusion and guilt welling up within her.

Lauren slowly emerged from the Shiba House, only seeing Kalla standing with two swords in her hands, three swords on the ground and four of the Samurai Rangers on the ground, moaning in pain. Jayden just stood there, his expression blank. Lauren gritted her teeth, and ran forward to grab a training sword from the rack.

"Kalla! If you're such a good swordsman, then maybe you should practice with Samurai at your level," Lauren said, struggling to remain calm. _It's bad enough that she might be trying to weaken us through Jayden, now she has to learn what makes them weak as warriors?!_ Lauren shook her head. _She would have just left Jayden to die that day, gone after the Sword herself, and saved herself the trouble of joining us if that was the case._

Kalla looked at Lauren. "I swear I didn't mean to….w-w-what I'm trying to say is that-"

"I..I know," Lauren said quickly. She had almost blurted out that she didn't believe Kalla one bit. However, she still needed solid proof that Kalla was truly out to destroy the Rangers _IF_ that was the case. However, Lauren wasn't sure which side Kalla was on at this point. Everything she knew of the girl was evidence to either side, and she didn't want to drive away a good Samurai, but she also knew she had to protect Jayden from threats.

Kalla suddenly looked at Lauren, her eyes excited. "Would you mind if I sparred with you?" Kalla's eyes flickered to Jayden and Lauren saw something like triumph in her eyes, as if she had found the solution to a difficult equation.

Lauren nodded, all too glad. She had trained with only dummies all her life, and never really with other Samurai.

Kalla ginned, and walked over to Lauren, her eyes filled with eager innocence as well. "That's great. I've always wanted to learn from a Shiba Clan master,"

Lauren took that as an opportunity. "Why not Jayden then? His style is based upon the Shiba Clan style, but his way of fighting is very unique as he has a lot of mixed martial arts into the style,"

Kalla's eyes instantly darkened. Temptation flickered across her vision along with something like hunger. Then, she seemed strained and her eyes cleared. "No," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "Not Jayden,"

Lauren was tempted to ask why, but Kalla seemed distracted.

Suddenly, the Gap Sensor began to blast through the air, warning of the presence of the WereDemons. Mentor came rushing out. "In the rocky quarry, near the construction area!" Jayden and the Rangers all locked eyes, nodded and ran out, ready to face their next great stepping stone to victory.

***Master Mode Power***

Their footsteps in time with each other, eight Samurai Rangers raced into the rocky quarry, their senses alert and full of warning. Signs were everywhere around them, faint snarls, shifting bodies, and often maniacal laughter rang in the Rangers' ears. Finally, reaching the spot where their Mentor had told them to find the WereDemon, Emily looked around, trying to catch her breath after all of the running her body just had to endure.

"Guys, anyone see anything?" she called, looking around.

"Yeah!" Kalla suddenly cried. She began to sprint ahead of the Rangers, her eyes set on a prize. Emily followed her gaze, and saw a WereDemon laughing at something hidden from her view.

Finally catching up to Kalla, where she stopped, Emily saw that the WereDemon was watching some of the construction crew – they were arguing with each other, oblivious to the fact that they were in danger!

"Hey! What did you do to them, WereDemon!" Jayden yelled, taking a small step in front of the others. The WereDemon turned, still giggling with glee. Emily finally got a closer look to what it looked like. Like Helidron and Umbrious, this creature had the traditional WereDemon gray-black fur, but that was were similarities stopped. The creature had the body of a frog, with eyes bugging from his stomach instead of his head, and huge webbed feet with tiny but long hands.

"Oh, something wonderful, Red! I merely ignited a rivalry from within! And they will never stop arguing!" the WereDemon giggled, and jumped.

Lauren gasped at what the creature had said. "That's awful! Peace should never be disturbed by rivalry!"

"Ready?" Jayden demanded, snapping his morpher into place.

The Rangers followed suit. "Ready!" they replied.

"**GO GO, SAMURAI**! SAMURAI MORPHER: GO POWER!" they yelled.

In a brilliant flash of light, the Rangers stood, each donning the Samurai Ranger uniform. "**RANGERS TOGETHER! SAMURAI FOREVER!**" They completed the morphing call, and Emily felt her Symbol Power begin to boil, and she felt powerful and connected to the Earth once again.

"Dolums! Time to play!" yelled the new WereDemon, and with lightning filling the sky, the Dolums suddenly seemed to surround their Master. With a group snarl, the wolf demons ran forwards, ready to destroy the Rangers.

Emily charged with her friends alongside her, slashing through the Demons, memories of the Moogers filling her head.

"Man, they just don't know when to quit!" Mike yelled as a fresh wave approached the Green Ranger.

"Guys! We have to get the crew out of here!" Kalla yelled, straining against four Dolums swords against hers.

Lauren turned and kicked a Dolum in the chest, sending him stumbling back. "No! We should focus on our mission and do our best to stop that WereDemon!"

"And put innocent lives at risk?!" Kalla yelled, fury clear and strong in her voice.

Jayden slashed a Dolum, and send others way by spinning and slashing them with his swords. "Yh! Guys! Stay focused and fight! Mia, Antonio! Get the crew out of here! We'll handle the Dolums and the Demon!"

"Got it!" Mia yelled, before flipping into the air.

Antonio pushed away a few Dolums and nodded. "No es una problema, amigo!" he too flipped over the wolf demons, and ran to Mia's aid with the construction crew.

Emily nodded, yelling "Be careful!" to her friends as they raced off. Suddenly, she heard Kalla yell.

"Hey! He's trying to get away!" Kalla raced after the WereDemon as he scampered weirdly away. Lauren broke free of her group and went after the WereDemon as well.

"Kalla! Lauren! Stay with the team!" Kevin yelled, but he was blocked by several Dolums as he tried to make his way to his friends.

Jayden turned and saw the two Rangers running after the creature. "Kevin! Em! Mike! Use your Samurai Weapons so we can help them!"

Emily nodded and spun the special black disc attached to her Sword. "Earth Slicer!" she yelled as her Spin Sword morphed into a huge Samurai Throwing Star. She attached the special Ape Disc to the console on her Earth Slicer, and began to hack away at the Dolums around her. She heard Mike activate his Forest Spear, and Kevin call upon his Hydro Bow. Jayden bellowed when he swung around his huge Fire Smasher, and soon, with crackles, sparks, and explosions later, the Dolums disappeared.

As the smoke cleared, Emily saw Kalla(now in Master Mode Form), and Lauren stumble away from the demon, Kalla with her hand across her chest and clutching her should, with Lauren grabbing at her stomach, each panting.

"I can sense some hostile feelings towards you two! Why don't you fight it out!" Bringing one hand to his shoulder, the creature flung two globs of dark matter at the White and Red Samurai Rangers, and it covered them.

Kalla and Lauren yelled in confusion as it covered them completely, and blew them back as it sparked and exploded. Kalla hit the ground and demorphed, struggling to stay propped on one elbow, as Lauren slammed into the ground and struggled to move.

"That should keep you guys for a while!" With a cackle, the WereDemon slithered off, and disappeared into a shadow.

The Rangers let go of their morphed state, and Emily ran over to Kalla with Mike at her side as Kevin and Jayden rushed to aid Lauren.

Kalla was half laying, her upper body supported by her hand as she propped herself up, rubbing her face with the other hand, as Lauren was starting to prop herself up on her elbow.

"Kalla!" Emily cried and helped support the White Ranger to her feet. Kalla kept rubbing her eyes, as if she was having a horrible allergic reaction to something. "Are you ok?" she asked, worried her friend had gotten hurt in the WereDemon's attack.

Kalla nodded. She turned to Emily. "I think so," she muttered. As she turned to the other three Rangers, her gaze fell on Lauren. At first, Emily was certain Kalla's natural worry over the well being of the team would kick in, but what Kalla did surprised her more than anyone. She glared at Lauren, her face twisted into a sneer, and she snapped at Lauren: "What the heck are you still doing here? You let him get away!"

Lauren looked back, and that oddly sprung anger triggered in her eyes too. Shrugging out of Jayden and Kevin's supportive grip, she glared harshly as Kalla. "At least without that stupid Master Mode, _I_ at least managed to hurt him! Did you want to keep your ally alive!?"

"How do we know that _you_ aren't in league with those monsters! I've helped fight them all my life!"

"You've done nothing but ruin everything since you got here! We don't _need your help_!"

"_They don't need yours either_!" Kalla yelled, gesturing to the bewildered Rangers. "_You only came here because you had mastered a stupid symbol! That was useless! JUST LIKE YOU!_"

**Woah, harsh…. What in the world is up with Kalla and Lauren? Will the Rangers ever figure out Kalla's secret? Will the two Rangers ever get along again? FIND OUT AS SOON AS I WRITE/ UPLOAD THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**Ps. I post faster if I get more reviews!**


	8. Friendships Forged

**This is my first Power Rangers Fanfiction. Now, as I am certain, the Power Ranger fans out there saw the ending of the newest generation of Power Rangers – the Samurai Rangers. I for one, was not satisfied with the ending. However, I do love the Power Rangers Samurai series, so I have decided to create an extension of the story. This story is based upon the return of a Ranger lineage lost in time, the access to a new power for the Rangers, and how the team could cope with the fact that their leader's emotions would interfere with his duties as the Shogun.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own my OC, this particular plot, and the Master Mode form.

**_Previously: Lauren and Kalla seemed to have a little bit of tension between them. Jayden begins to question the depth of his feelings for Kalla as she struggles to ignore hers. However, after seeing how she lashed out at the Rangers, Kalla realizes a huge darkness beginning to well up within her heart, earning the suspicions of Lauren. When a WereDemon attacks, he shows he has the power to turn people against each other by igniting their rivalries from within – and targets Kalla and Lauren! The two are hit with the WereDemons control! They begin to fight!_**

**_Announcements; two contests! One: I would like to see designs for a cover for this story PRS: Master Mode Power! The cover must include Kalla, Jayden, the Power Rangers logo, (samurai adds bonus points) and two eyes of what you guys think Tenebris's eyes will look like. Two: You may have noticed that I am pressing Kalla and Jayden's relationship. I would love to see one shots, reviews, anything – to incorporate what you guys think is keeping Kalla from accepting her feelings for Jayden. A scene between them would be good, if you are writing a one shot. Just credit Kalla to me, ok? _**

Kevin watched, disbelief coursing through him at the coldness in Kalla's voice as she screamed at Lauren. "_It was worthless! JUST LIKE YOU!"_ the words still rang in Kevin's ears and he tried to detect any sign of the gentle, hesitant Kalla in that voice, but those words reverberated true anger, hatred and jealousy.

Lauren's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to shriek a comeback, but Jayden stepped forward, his eyes furious. "_That's enough!"_ he yelled. Kevin gasped slightly as a small burst of flame came to puff out of Jayden's closing hands, as if his symbol power was reacting by just emotion.

All of the Rangers just turned their wide eyes from the arguing Rangers, to Jayden. Kevin himself felt his eyes widen, and he tensed instantly, fearing the wrath of the Shogun.

"Both of you stop it!" Jayden snapped. He turned to Mia and Antonio. "Did you get the crew out of here?"

Mia nodded. "They listened to us well enough, but they seemed unwilling to go with one another," she glanced at Lauren and Kalla. "I just hope we can convince them to snap out of it somehow,"

Kalla was shooting daggers at Lauren with her eyes, being retaliated by Lauren whose fists were clenched so tight her knuckles were unusually pale.

Jayden nodded. "Kevin, Emily. Can you keep them distracted?" he asked lowering his voice to the two Samurai.

Kevin nodded, still wary of Jayden's fiery wrath. He began to step forward, but something strong grabbed his arm. Turning slowly, Kevin sees Jayden's face filled with worry. "Keep them safe," Jayden murmured, almost like an afterthought. Kevin nodded, not knowing what else to do.

***Master Mode Power***

In the city, there was one place where even a Samurai so used to the traditional ways of relaxation, could relax amidst the city. It was a small food court, an open square in the city near the park. It had restaurants from around the world, as if the whole planet was at peace in one corner of the world. Plastic tables and chairs coexisted with metal tables and chairs alike, blending in as if they had been made for the other. A small concrete fountain, with a twisting carved spike from the center protruding, sat in the center of the square, and it too seemed to fit right in with this tiny corner of the world. It was a perfect place to relax; one of the few places the Samurai Rangers went to relax.

Or, to forget.

Emily desperately tried to forget the arguing Samurai back at the Shiba House. The Yellow Ranger had left with Mike, unsure of where else, or what else to do, with a promise to Mentor that they would keep a sharp eye out for any monster activity, and call if they needed help. Mike had insisted they leave, probably because he couldn't take the sight of Rangers fighting any better than Emily could. It just seemed to go against the natural order of life, or nature itself, and the sight of Kalla and Lauren shrieking at each other was too much.

The blonde Ranger shook her head, desperate to get rid of the image in her head. Mike had taken her to the city to relax, and relax she should. Turning back the French fries and hot dog in front of her, Emily smiled and blushed when Mike's fingers stroked her arm as if to calm her. Mike smiled and settled down right next the Yellow Samurai, easing his hamburger in his hands.

"I hope they get better," Emily murmured. She absentmindedly sucked her milkshake from her drink, and she didn't look up, sadness in her hunched shoulders. Mike's arm snaked around her shoulders, and her boyfriend gave her a comforting squeeze.

"Hey," he said gently. Emily turned and looked into his eyes. "They'll be fine. If anyone can figure out what's wrong with them, Mentor and Jayden can. Besides, I want you to relax, sweetie," he kissed her cheek, and pulled her close. Emily blushed into Mike's shoulder; they had never kissed and every time Mike kissed her cheek, her face was red for minutes on end.

Suddenly, a woman's scream rang through the air, and the two Rangers jerked out of their embrace to find the source. The WereDemon rolled into sight, bringing the newspaper stand he had crashed into with him. A flash of whiteish silver streaked through the air, and Kalla in Master Mode was standing, her sword on her shoulder like Jayden's so often was.

The WereDemon stood back up, rubbing his belly – or was it face? – with his long, tiny hands as he cried out. "Aw come on! That _hurt_!"

Kalla's voice sounded through her visor. "Good! This way, I can take you down _without_ putting the others in your, or Tenebris's way!" she ran forward suddenly, like a master swordsman. She slashed downwards, and cut across the shoulder of the creature, making him spin out of control, and then she retaliated again by adding two good swipes in.

"Kalla!" Mike yelled, and as one, he and Emily ran forward and took out their morphers. Kalla turned her head and stepped back a little shocked. "Don't! He's dangerous! No one else should get hit!"

But the two Rangers had already painted their symbols in the air, and were flipping over the Master Samurai to attack. Emily and Mike drew their swords over the creature's armor and he flew backwards.

Kalla rushed forward to join her teammates when the monster was down. "Guys!" she said. The two turned to her, expecting a welcome or a thanks, but she pushed past them, angry. "I said get outta here! This is dangerous! I'm strong enough to take him alone, and I will destroy him! No one else needs to get hurt!" Emily stepped forward. "What are you talking about Kalla?" Kalla turned her visor, as if about to speak, but the WereDemon shot an attack at them, aiming for Emily.

"Watch out!" Kalla pushed the yellow Ranger out of the way, and went backward, yelling in pain as the attack hit her. Kalla looked up, her right hand clutching her left shoulder. She grew deep breaths and yelled again. "Get out of here! I can handle this!" Mike had whipped out his Samuraizer, and was calling someone as he knelt by Emily to help her to her feet.

"Jayden? Yeah! Bring Lauren, Kevin, Antonio, Mia! The WereDemon's back, and Kalla's hurt!" he closed his phone.

Kalla stamped her foot. "I'm perfectly fine! Why did you call them! Now the whole team is in danger!"

Emily cocked her head to the side. "But I thought that you hated Lauren…." She said, trailing off.

Kalla clenched her fist and slashed it through the air. "Of course I do! She's done nothing the whole time she's been with your team!" Kalla stepped in front of the other Rangers. "I can do this! I was given the Master Power! I'm strong enough to destroy them all if I have to! None of you need to get hurt, especially not Jayden!"

Mike stepped forward. "What about Jayden!"

"I'm fine, Mike," came the calm reply. The three Rangers turned around, and saw the rest of their team standing there. Kalla stepped forward.

"Why are you here!"

Lauren snapped, "Because you obviously can't handle this job!"

Kalla growled and lunged for her and the two Samurai locked swords.

"Oh, do shut up!" Yelled the WereDemon as he shot energy blasts from his fingers to the two quarreling Samurai. The girls went flying and crashed into the tables of an Italian Restaurant.

The Rangers were about to step forward and help the two when suddenly, the world around them seemed to become engulfed with projectiles and explosions. Yelling in surprise, pain, and anger, the Samurai all flew through the air back several feet; Mike and Emily went flying to the square's pool fountain, Kevin and Mia flew into some abandoned hot dog vendors, Lauren and Kalla slammed into the side of the Italian restaurant, and Jayden and Antonio rolled, knocking into scattered chairs and garbage cans. They slowly got up disoriented and dazed from the unexpected flight.

Jayden got his feet first. "Everyone ok?" he rasped loudly. Kevin and Mia slowly stood, bracing against the ground with their arms, and Kevin moved to lean on his sword. "Yeah, we're ok," Kevin replied. He turned to Mia and helped her to her feet.

Antonio nodded. "Nothing is broken. Estoy bien, amigo," he coughed.

Lauren groaned and Kalla just struggled to begin to prop herself on her elbows.

Mike stood. "Man, this fountain sure could use a cleaning. You ok, Em?" he stood and gasped as he saw the Yellow Ranger slumped to the side of the fountain, her helmet covered in gravel and the fountain chipped away.

There was no reply. Emily lay still; her head had struck the side of a concrete water fountain which Mike had landed inside of.

"Guys! Emily's hurt!" Mike yelled, jumping out of the fountain.

Jayden, Kevin, Mia, and Antonio all rushed up to the their feet and quickly knelt around Emily. Kalla and Lauren looked on, horror playing on their faces beneath their helmets.

Kalla turned her head to the ground and clenched her hands into a fists. "This is my fault," she whispered bitterly. Lauren heard her words and slowly turned to face Kalla.

Before either could react, they were snapped to attention when the WereDemon emerged from the smoke, laughing as he walked through the leftovers of his attack.

"Oh, this is just too great, Rangers! I barely used my powers in that attack, and I doubt that you will last long enough to even face my full strength!"

Jayden stepped forward, protecting the others as they hunched over the Yellow Samurai. "Who are you?" he demanded angrily.

The beast laughed, rocking his torso back and forth. "Names are pretty powerful, Red Ranger! Just be thankful that Tenebris will not learn yours anytime soon!"

"Stop avoiding the question! Who are you!"

"They call me Punare, and I'm your worst nightmare!" he suddenly streaked through the air, and swiped his hand at Jayden, as if clawing at him. Jayden stumbled and retaliated by double slashing horizontally, bringing his sword stroking to the right, and then back to the left. Punare went in to claw at Jayden again, but the Red Ranger rolled out of the way, and as the clawed hand was about to rip into Jayden's side, there was a battle cry, and flashes of blue and gold filled the air around the WereDemon.

Antonio stood, as if shielding Jayden and almost no harm had seem to come to the WereDemon, However, as the Gold Ranger sheathed his sword, the WereDemon let out yells of pain as several explosions raked across his body. The Rangers, minus Emily, Mike, Kalla, and Lauren, re grouped around Jayden. The WereDemon looked up from his feeble position on the ground.

"That's it! I've had it with you Rangers! Take this!" the monster shouted as he released thousands of needle like projectiles at the Rangers. They cried out as they raked across their skin and exploded on their body. A huge explosion rocked their feet as a group of missiles landed by their feet. They rolled, and each demorphed as pain became too much for them. Kalla and Lauren looked up, and gasped at what they saw. However, still too weak to stand, they watched helplessly as the Rangers lay writhing on the ground. Mike looked up from holding a now demorphed Emily, and gently set her down. With a furious yell, Mike ran for the WereDemon, but the creature sent the same barrage of needles to the Green Ranger, and he was blown back and reduced to civilian form as well.

Lauren and Kalla were on their own.

The White Ranger feebly tried to get to her feet as the Red Female Ranger stood, her knees unsteady.

Kalla finally stood, and spoke. "Ok. I can take him, Lauren. Help the others,"

Lauren glared from under her helmet but shook her head. "No way! I can take him out alone!"

Lauren didn't relpy. She lunged forward, sprinting into action, both hands on the hilt of her sword, the blade shining in the light and she swung, delivering a great blow to the monster. Punare spun, and Kalla was suddenly behind him, delivering an uppercutted blow to him. He stumbled and the two Samurai, out of habit, regrouped together. The WereDemon shot more bursts of energy at the two girls, and they rolled, barely escaping the attacks. Panting, they watched their enemy as he fumed over their attacks upon him.

"Lauren… I'm so sorry for what I said. I just got frustrated that you didn't trust me and thought I was bent on hurting you all," Kalla's voice was soft, but filled with remorse.

Lauren turned to her and smiled beneath her visor. "Hey, I owe you an apology too. I never should have said what I did,"

Kalla turned to Lauren, and there was a new strength and eagerness opening between the two Samurai. Something was beginning to burn underneath the haze of Punare's spell, and replace the hatred the two felt towards each other.

Kalla stood, and stepped towards the WereDemon, all her focus on him.

"We can defeat him. There is a reason no one else can," Kalla paused, and waited for Lauren to catch on.

"Because they have to trust each other," Lauren said. She rose and stood by Kalla.

"I trust you, Kalla," she said. She did. Kalla always helped the others, warning them about the dangers of these creatures, leading them on a quest she believed they could accomplish. Kalla always did the right thing – for the Rangers' sakes.

"I trust _you_, Lauren," the White Ranger replied. Lauren was always there to look out for the team, and she was the first to try and encourage Kalla to stay with the team. She always wanted the best for the Rangers.

With the traces of the monster's spell disappearing, the girls stood side by side, and replaced the standard black disks of their Spin Swords. Lauren chose the Lion Disk she had, while Kalla armed herself with the Wolf Master Disk.

"Ok, you hit him hard with all the firepower you got, and then I'll freeze him!" Kalla whispered.

Punare snarled and began running forward, his right arm outstretched. "I'll kill you!" his last word rose into a deep howl that chilled Kalla to the bone. She shivered and crouched, gathering up as much raw energy from her symbol power that she could muster. Lauren paused, then spun her disk. Powerful white hot flames licked the blade, but Lauren barely felt the heat. She felt as if she were _one_ with the blaze, the power of her fire was so strong.

"Spin Sword! Shiba Lion Strike!" she yelled. She ran forward, and gave the monster a downward stroke. Then, she upper-cutted in an X shape and the Shiba Fire Symbol blazed for a moment, as the sound of a lion's roar filled the , as the powerful symbol took effect upon the monster, Punare yelled in pain, but his left claw slapped into Lauren, raking her side viscously. She yelled as she rolled away.

Jayden had finally stopped in his black pain long enough to notice his sister.

"Lauren!" he yelled, uncertain and in the dark of the girls' plan. However, Lauren rolled into a crouch, clutching her smoking side and turned to Kalla.

"That did the trick. Go for it!" she nodded encouragingly. Kalla stood, and she swung her sword so it was diagonal across her body. "Samurai Master Mode Power!" she yelled. Her suit shimmered with excellence, and she stuck her sword arm out, the Spin Blade perpendicular to the ground. She spun the disk. White frost energy billowed across the blade, and it looked as though a gale was forming around her sword.

"Wolf Master Disk! Spin Sword: Winter Force!" Kalla dropped her arm, the blade an extension of her arm. Running forward, she began to leap, prowl and dance around the WereDemon, her Sword striking in the place the creature left open for attacks. He kept yelling and yelling, and suddenly, Kalla was there, fully braced against a blow from Punare's arm. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded. "Lauren: NOW!" Kalla jerked her arm upwards as Lauren flipped over the White Samurai's shoulders, and brought a Fire Smasher down upon the creature. Punare howled in pain, and stumbled back, bursts of electricity racking across his body.

"How?" he breathed as he fell to his knees. "How did you overcome my spell?" he wailed.

Lauren and Kalla stood side by side, as the rest of the team, still in civilian form joined them. Both girls squared their shoulders, and their suits disappeared in a cloud of their respective symbols. Lauren smiled. "We remembered why we trusted each other, and that we could be a team,"

Kalla smiled and walked forwards, and leaned into the WereDemon's ear.

"You and I both know that he will rise. But, we also know that I will fight him in any way I can to kill him," the Samurai murmured into the Demon's ear.

The Demon looked at her, the shockwaves coming more frequently and strongly across his body. "But will you kill yourself to stop him?"

Kalla stood, and stared at the creature. Suddenly, she delivered a cold, brutal kick to his chest, and sent him flying into the air. He exploded in the sky, and the Rangers behind her cheered.

Kalla remained, staring into the sky. "I will if that's what it takes," she whispered. Something shifted in her arm, and her right hand cupped the ancient scar upon her skin. A touch on her shoulder turned her around. Lauren was there, and she looked as though she wanted to say something. Kalla smiled and hugged her friend gently. Soon the other Rangers all came over, and the girls broke apart. The eight smiled to each other, and then stuck their hands into the center of the circle.

"Rangers together!" Jayden called. The other Rangers joined in, and threw their hands into the air.

"**SAMURAI FOREVER**!"

Kalla laughed and smiled, finally where she should belong.

"Guys! Emily's still blacked out!" Mike yelled. He ran over to the Yellow Ranger, and she groaned as he cradled her. Looking around, Emily saw Kalla and Lauren standing near each other.

"What a weird dream," she breathed. "I thought you two were fighting,"

Kalla and Lauren exchanged a look and laughed.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Once the Rangers returned to the Shiba House, they settled in their rooms. Kalla had taken a bowl of warm water to wash her face with.

Kalla held her breath, and diped her head into her hands, splashing her face with the water. Suddenly, a fire erupted from her left bicep and she let out a shriek. Lauren was the first one there, holding a towel and her Sword. "Kalla! Are you ok?" she cried, falling to her knees besides her friend.

Kalla looked at Lauren and then down at her hands on her lap, flashing, blinding pain burning in her arm.

"Lauren, I can trust you. I'm trusting you with the biggest secret of the White Ranger. Please, don't tell anyone,"

Lauren hesitated, but met Kalla's eyes. She smiled and cupped Kalla's cheek. "Of course, I'll keep it. Together, it'll be _our_ secret,"

**YAY! BEST FRIENDS! Oh, and for the new Megaforce fans, I SHIP GIAXJAKE, AND TROYXEMMA. :) I might do one shots, and or stories on them! taking requests NOW!**

**Don't worry! This story isn't over yet! J I was so relieved when this finally came out finished…. Editing took forever, and the writer's block at places was just terrible. Anyhoo, this is what I've got, and since its been a while since I've uploaded, I'm just gonna post it. I can always edit the story after I finish….. anyhoo, please review with ideas, comments, concerns, or contest related stuff! See ya'll next chapter! :D**


	9. To the Test

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own my OC, this particular plot, and the Master Mode form.

"Mike, honestly, I am perfectly fine!" Emily giggled, pushing away the bag of peas her boyfriend was trying to push on her head. The bump on it was slowly dulling over the past few days, and she was grateful that her boyfriend was there for her. She smiled and kissed his cheek softly. She held his head in her hands, and looked him in the eyes.

"Mike, I'm completely and totally fine to train with you guys,"

Mike gently wrapped his hand around her wrists and sighed, letting the closeness of her comfort him with her heart beat against his chest. He looked into her eyes, and she into his. Then, at the very same instant, both of their eyes dropped from each other's eyes to each other's lips. Mike slowly leaned forward, and Emily leaned forward, their lips brushing for the first time together.

"Mike!" came Ji's call. The Green Ranger flinched and the two Samurai jumped away from each other in surprise. "Emily!" the two Rangers smiled, and turned to walk out together, holding hands. Kalla was wrapping a black blindfold around her eyes, and the others were setting up around the crouching Samurai, out on the dojo. Mentor had insisted that they all train together, sometimes throwing impossible tasks into the training. It was when the Rangers got frustrated, that they saw the answer to Mentor's puzzles. However, today, they were going to test Kalla's Master Powers, seeing what changes it made to her body, heart, and mind.

Mike grabbed a stick, but Mentor put out an arm, barring Mike from entering. Mike looked in confusion at his Mentor, but Ji just smiled.

"I want you to be able to step in if it gets too violent. Stay out," Mike nodded, grateful he could watch and protect the others. Kalla crouched, her hands on the sword at her feet.

"Alright, Kalla. Use your senses and see if you can feel where the other Rangers are, and let Nature be your guide,"

Kalla nodded. "I'm ready," she breathed.

Mentor nodded to the Rangers who could see. "Begin!"

Kalla slowly let out a breath, closed her eyes and waited. There was a faintest of shuffles near to her, and the creak of the wood. Kalla spun, and instantly her sword met Antonio's. The shuffle of the soles of a shoe filled the air, almost quietly. Kalla unbalanced Antonio, and with a spin, she sent Mia crashing into him. Flipping backwards, she evaded Kevin's stab and knowing that Jayden was behind her, made Kevin whap him instead, dodging the swing by falling into a makeshift split. She did a breakdancer's kick and deflected both Emily's and Lauren's swords. Kalla pushed off the ground with her shoulders and flipped partially, landing on her feet.

She smiled and took her blindfold off.

Mia was rubbing her head as Antonio lay groaning in the dirt. Emily and Lauren just looked angry and Jayden was rubbing a red welt on his arm. Mike and Kevin both were smling, although Kevin did look a little annoyed.

Mentor smiled. "Well done, all of you. Now, Jayden, you lead the training; I have some business to attend to inside," with that, Ji turned and went back indoors.

Jayden nodded to the others, and Kalla felt that pull she had everytime he switched himself into leader mode. He paused and looked over Kalla's shoulder in confusion.

Kalla heard the gates creak open, and as they did, she and the Rangers as one saw a messenger come in carrying a duffel bag.

He bowed, and the Rangers straightened and bowed in return.

"Might I ask where the White Samurai is?" the messenger asked. Kalla's smile disappeared and she stepped forward.

"I am she," she said a little awkwardly. The messenger smiled and held out the small duffel bag. Kalla looked down at it, and then back at the messenger in confusion.

He smiled kindly. "They managed to recover these from your home. I trust you will know when to use them,"

Eyes widening, the White Ranger looked back down at the duffel in her hands. "They recovered them?" she gasped. She bowed to the man, and quickly ran inside the House, yelling Ji's name.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Jayden and the others finally came in from an extra hour of practice. Mike sighed dramatically when air conditioning began to cool his summer sun heated arms. Emily smiled and landed another peck on his cheek, and then jogged after Mia. The two girls linked arms, and laughed. They suddenly turned and found Kalla and Ji hunched over the duffel she had received, which was resting on the table of the Gap Map. Kalla and the Mentor were smiling and she was pointing to a few things, her voice low but excited. They looked up and Ji smiled. He motioned for the Rangers to join them. Settling on cushions, each Ranger looked at Kalla and Ji.

Kalla looked at Ji, and then stood. "In my family, we had safeguarded three Zords. The CougarZord, the OrangutanZord, and the PandaZord. I have been discussing who should receive them with Mentor. He and I both agree, boys, that since you already each pilot the Battlewing, it's only fair I give the girls the Zords for the Battletank, or the Flaming Megazord," Kalla smiled apologetically. She turned to Lauren.

"Lauren, because you are versatile and can think quickly in action, I am giving to you the CougarZord. He makes up the right arm of the Flaming Megazord," she reached into the duffel and revealed a scarlet colored disc with a leopard like creature running in the portals. Handing it to Lauren, the Female Red smiled and swore she heard a roar of agreement in her mind.

Kalla then turned to Mia. "Because of your gentle nature, but fierceness to fight, I am giving you the PandaZord. He makes up the left arm of the Flaming Megazord," drawing out a pale gray and pink disc, she handed it to Mia. The Pink Ranger smiled and took the Zord, hearing an affectionate rumble in her head.

Kalla reached for the final disk, revealing it was golden streaked with brown. She turned to Emily. "The OrangutanZord makes up the body and head of the Flaming MegaZord. I am giving it to you because he has a lot of power, something I think you are only beginning to tap into for yourself," Kalla smiled and handed Emily the disk. Emily smiled.

Kalla sat down. "The FalconZord makes the legs and shoulder armor of the Flaming MegaZord. So, now that the girls have a MegaZord for ourselves, we all have more power at our disposal for this fight," Kalla winced as if she had been stung, and let out a faint gasp.

Kevin looked up sharply. "You ok?" he asked.

Kalla shuddered and then nodded. She looked at Lauren, fear beginning to flicker in her eyes. Lauren quickly stood. "Why don't we all take a break? The WereDemons seem to be following suit with this plan, right?" she laughed, but Jayden's eyes narrowed and he looked at Kalla suspicion and concern in his head. Jayden stood and quickly walked over to Kalla before she could escape with the others.

"What's going on?" Jayden whispered softly. Kalla gazed after the others as Lauren led them away, and once she and Jayden were alone, Kalla turned to him.

"I gave them the FlamingZord. Are you jealous that I didn't pick you for that job?" she smirked.

Jayden smiled. "I think you know that I wouldn't stoop that low. It's about time that they had a Zord for themselves. But, no. However, what about you? Are you doing ok yourself?"

Kalla's eyes flashed with pain, but it was so brief Jayden wondered if he had really seen it. "Are you going to start fussing over me like Mike does to Emily? I'll have you know that I won't have any of that," she backed away. But Jayden took a step closer to her.

"Kalla, you know that I wouldn't do that. I need to know if something is going on that could endanger the team,"

"Oh, you mean besides the attack of Demons from another dimension who want to destroy the eight of us?" she snapped.

Jayden began to grow angry. "Ok, fine. I won't even bother worry about you the next time!"

Kalla smiled. "That's good, because that's how it should be. I cannot be your focus, Jayden!" Kalla suddenly blushed and looked away.

Jayden gently tipped her head back with his knuckle. "You don't want me to worry about you?" Jayden murmured, knowing very well she was right. But he couldn't help it. Lauren's warning suddenly rang in his head.

Kalla looked away again. "I do but….. but not now. We can't right now. We shouldn't ever, actually," she didn't look at him and walked after the others. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and was unaware that Jayden saw Kalla do so.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Mike smiled as Emily laughed. He was so worried about her after the fight of Punare. She was dazed for days, and she seemed unable to walk straight afterwards. She insisted she was fine – most of the time laughing the whole time as she did so- and that he could stop fussing. Mike knew that his feelings for Emily had become much more pronounced, and he was certain that he would do something stupid because of her one day. And he didn't care. He'd protect her.

Still smiling, he bit into Mia's oven cooked hamburgers, savoring her newfound cooking skills. The Rangers were joking about old times, laughing at good memories and eating good food.

"Did we ever tell you, Lauren, about the day that everyone but Emily was put under a spell by the Nighlok to eat everything in the house?" Antonio asked. Lauren chuckled, and shook her head.

Kevin was about to start the story, when they all heard Mentor's voice from the outside dojo.

"Kalla, you must focus! By focusing, you narrow your field, expose yourself to fewer distractions and are able to access your true symbol power. Now, do it again!" The Rangers looked at each other, but Mike suddenly stood.

"I know what Kalla's going through. I'll go talk to her,"

Kevin rubbed his ears. "Oh, did my eyes just deceive me? Is Mike being _responsible_?" everyone laughed, knowing the heart of the Blue Ranger's joke. Mike even smiled sheepishly.

"Hey! I changed a little at Emily's over the summer!' he protested, laughing.

Too late, Mike realized that his friends would turn that into a joke. Antonio let out a mock cat call, and the others went "ooh," like little children mocking him. He blushed, and then whipped out his morpher. He quickly showed the familiar picture; Kevin in a tutu. Emily began to laugh, remembering that day. The others saw it, gaped a little, and then laughed while Kevin turned bright red. Mia smiled at him.

"Aw, don't be so embarrassed. You looked kinda cute when that happened," for some reason, Mia's cheeks turned pink and she quickly turned away to flip another burger.

Mike smiled, and left the kitchen and walked through the House to the Dojo. Emerging into the sunlight, Mike watched for a moment. Kalla was doing impossible flips, and combination attacks – something Mentor had introduced her to since she was now at a Master Level of the Power. She jumped over a dummy and did a corkscrew spin while backflipping. However, she seemed to become dazed in the air, for she stopped and fell, landing on her butt. Mike winced, knowing the blow to her tailbone must be unbearable. Kalla groaned and rolled onto her side.

Mentor sighed. "Kalla, you aren't focusing. You must see the attack in your head, including the landing. Take a sip. We'll try again in a minute," he turned away, nodded to Mike and went inside. Most likely to grab a first aid kit. Kalla slowly sat up, her backside ahcing with soreness.

Mike walked over and extended a hand. Kalla looked up, through pain squinted eyes, took it, and let him help hoist her up. Kalla rubbed her back.

"Thanks," she croaked.

Mike nodded. "No prob. Here," he added, extending her water bottle to her. She took it and downed it with big gulps.

"You know, you should do all these while we practice. That way, you don't have to suffer through both. Take a break," the Green Ranger urged.

Kalla shook her head. "I can't. I have to be able to stop a WereDemon alone,"

Mike tipped his head to the side. "Why? Why do you have to push yourself so hard? You can't be an invincible force of Nature. No one can,"

Kalla looked at her feet. "I _have_ to be one," she muttered.

"Why?"

"So I can redeem my lineage. The only way for me to do that, is to make sure you all are safe, and that I can take down the WereDemons alone,"

Mike leaned forward a little, hands sternly on his hips. "Why are you hell bent on protecting us?"

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Jayden stood, ready to continue with his training for the day. Walking to the dojo, Jayden saw Kalla and Mike conversing in hushes voices. Jayden hid, unsure as to why he did.

Mike's voice suddenly reached him. "Why are you hell bent on protecting us?"

"Because its my family's fault that these creatures are here in the first place, and it's _my _fault for leading them straight to you guys!"

"And it's a good thing you did. Eight Rangers are far better odds than one alone,"

"But, I have the Master Power-"

"So? How long until one of us receives the Power? How long until you realize that you're just hiding behind it, because you can't face how you really feel?"

For a few moments, there was silence.

Then, "I just don't want him to get hurt because of me," the voice was low, filled with a deep sorrow, and pain.

Mike's voice was gentle now. "I don't think he would care. All he cares about if keeping you safe. It's his job,"

"That's not what I meant,"

"Then what did you mean?"

Kalla never responded. Mia and Kevin came around the door way, and walked into the dojo, talking about her hamburgers. Jayden quickly followed after them, making it seem like he was with them the whole time. Kalla and Mike's words rang in his ears, bouncing off of Lauren's warning from the other night. Jayden vowed he would get to the bottom of the problem. He grabbed a sword, and beat a dummy. When one blow landed, Jayden let his anger flow. I promise, he thought. I promise I _will_ protect you, Kalla. From whatever danger it is your afraid of, I _will_ protect you,"

Ji returned outside, and when he saw Kalla's defeated expression, he sighed.

"Do whatever training you feel necessary for today, Kalla. Rest, and we will continue tomorrow,"

Kalla's eyes suddenly flashed. "No! we have to finish this now!"

Mentor crossed his arms. "Then, tell me. Kalla, what is distracting you?"

Kalla flinched, and stiffened at the mention, her mind returning to three nights before, when she had told Lauren her secret.

_"Now, remember, I never wanted this. I was very young when this happened," Kalla rolled up her left sleeve, exposing her scar. The claw marks glared at her as they had every other day in her life. Expect now, they were shimmering white and with each pulse, pain, balck pain shot to Kalla's brain and through her body. Kalla winced as Lauren's eyes widened and she placed her hands around the scar, as if she would scoop it off of Kalla's skin. _

_"What?" Lauren gasped, confused. _

_Kalla sighed. "This, is the Mark of Tenebris. He has linked his life force with my own, as he did to the very White Ranger who tried to kill your ancestor, and every White Ranger since. I am his anchor to this world, and since our lives are linked, I can know what he's thinking. He can feel what I feel, and I can feel what he feels. It is a master torture, for if the Rangers kill Tenebris, you might as well be killing me too. However, if I were to kill myself, or have another kill me, he would be able to sever the link between us as he forged it," she paused and looked at Lauren. Compassion and fear began to grow in Lauren's eyes. _

_"Why is it causing you pain?" she whispered. The Red Ranger grabbed the towel, dipped it in the bowl Kalla was using for her face, and wiped around the scar. _

_Kalla sighed. "Because he is rising. He is absorbing the fear from this world. As I am his anchor to this world, he is using me to rise into this world. It is a long and slow process, as there were thousands upon millions of symbols put over his trap, keeping him down there in his world. The closer to our world he gets, the more pain he will experience. He will force me to feel it, so our bond will numb the pain if it is divided," Kalla suddenly winced, and her scar flashed brilliantly. She panted as her body adjusted to the pain. _

_"Lauren, please, you cannot tell anyone! If they knew, they might not be able to finish the job when Tenebris must be destroyed,"_

_Lauren looked at her, finally sharing her friend's sorrow. "But, Kalla…"_

_Kalla looked away. _

_"Isn't there a way to stop that?"_

_Kalla shook her head. "Not one that has ever been found,"_

_Lauren looked at her friend. "So that's why you push everyone away, and why you're so sad all the time,"_

_Kalla could only nod as a response. _

_Lauren smiled gently, and wiped Kalla's cheek, her own eyes brimming with tears. "Hey. It's going to be okay," _

_Kalla drew a small intake of breath, and Lauren and she embraced, hugging each other tightly, only the pulse of Kalla's wound – mental and physical – keeping the time that night. _

Kalla pinched her nose to shut out the memory as evil cackles whispered in her mind. Kalla looked up sharply, grief and sorrow flushing out as the Gap Sensor went off.

Mentor and she looked at each other, and she, Mia, Kevin, and Jayden each went inside, ready to find the danger and snuff it out.

Once they reached the table, Ji tapped the heart of it and a map appeared with a red star in the limestone quarry just outside of the city.

Kalla looked at Jayden, along with the other Rangers. They were waiting for their leader's move.

Jayden looked at the dot. His gaze rose, and he looked around at his team. They smiled at him, giving their encouragement.

Jayden smiled, and nodded. The Rangers turned, and stood in a long line. Jayden flicked his whole arm, yelling "**SAMURIZER!**"

The other Rangers whipped out their own morphers. "**GO, GO SAMURAI! SAMURAI MORPHER: GO POWER!**"

As one, they each painted their symbols. Jayden, Lauren, Mia, Kevin, Mike, and Emily each went through the traditional morphing sequence. Antonio went through his.

Kalla whipped out a special Samuraizer. "Go, Go Master Samurai!" Her transformation was the same as it had been, the Symbols of Ice crawling up her arm, leaving the silvery white suit behind. Her sides were striped, and her helmet resembles that of a wolf. Her symbol partially blazed on her helm, and eight Power Rangers stood in the Shiba House. Jayden turned, and led the charge.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Running to the edge of the rocky quarry, the Rangers peered over the edge.

Nothing.

Mike stepped on a boulder and leaned on his knee. "Ha! I guess that he heard we were coming, and just high tailed it back to his world!"

Jayden looked around. Kevin joined his leader in the search.

"I don't think he did!" came a deep voice. Turning around, the Rangers gasped.

This creatures was different from the first WereDemons. He very humanoid, and wore alien black armor. It was slim upon him, however, and his white sword gleamed against him. He rolled his wrist, and revealed the other side of the blade to be an even deper black than its bearer.

"My name is Sicarius. It means assassin, in one of your languages," he continued. Kalla shivered when she heard that voice.

He raised his sword and pointed it at the Red Ranger.

"And my target is the Red Samurai Power Ranger, before he can gain the Master Power,"

The other Rangers instantly stepped forward and in front of their leader. Kalla rolled her fingers into a tight and angry fist. She unsheated her Spin Sword.

"You can try, but have fun trying it once I send you to _hell_," she hissed. She drew her Sword, and charged. The other Rangers followed her, the need to protect Jayden burning within them.

Sicarius flew past Kalla, and slashed at the others with inhuman speed and accuracy. Kalla turned and watched in horror as the Rangers fell, the various blows leaving them smoking and falling almost immediately to the ground.

"**_NO!_**" Kalla shrieked. Sicarius paused, as if he ahd just finished a blow. The Rangers stood, and then their bodies became covered in sparks and explosions. They cried out, and Kalla watched, her heart engulfed by terror as they fell. Jayden and she were left standing, each on opposite ends of the monster. Kalla shook her head slowly, and then clutched it between her fists.

"You coward!" she snarled. She looked up, and charged the creature, her mind blank with rage. The creature turned, and with a quick flourish of his sword, Kalla felt her own fly into the air. She rolled, trying to evade the blade. She did. She stopped her roll by going into a crouch, and before she could react, there was something very similar to an explosion of pain her Mark – and her side were the sword of the WereDemons cut deep into her side. As the wound was carved, Kalla felt as if her whole life force was being sucked into that sword. She rolled from the blow, and demorphed against her willed, clutching her side in pain as her civilian form became clear to the world.

Jayden yelled in anger, and charged the creature, but it disappeared. Jayden slashed a shadow, and looked around for the creature.

Only it's voice remained. "I will return for you, Red Flame Ranger," Jayden turned and ran over to Kalla. She was groaning in pain. Mia and Emily joined Jayden, and Lauren rushed over to her friend's side. Antontio cradled her, and Jayden's eyes dropped to Kalla's side.

She was clutching her stomach with both hands. Jayden gently removed them and wished he hadn't. Kalla's side was stained with a large pool of blood, and her hands covered with the sticky red liquid.

She gasped, and fumbled. She suddenly found Jayden's hand and their eyes met.

"Jayden," she rasped weakly. Before he could say anything, she gasped, shuddering, and coughed.

**So, Kalla's secret is finally revealed! Hope this intrigues you guys! I have no school today, so hopefully at least another chapter will be coming out for this day. It's my way of saying sorry for keeping ya'll waiting. Again, tell peoples about this story, and the more reviews I have, the faster I will update! Thank you!**

**And wow… I beat up on Kalla A LOT, don't i….. oh well, that'll change in the future chapters. J**

**_Announcements; two contests! One: I would like to see designs for a cover for this story PRS: Master Mode Power! The cover must include Kalla, Jayden, the Power Rangers logo, (samurai adds bonus points) and two eyes of what you guys think Tenebris's eyes will look like. Two: You may have noticed that I am pressing Kalla and Jayden's relationship. I would love to see one shots, reviews, anything – to incorporate what you guys think is keeping Kalla from accepting her feelings for Jayden. A scene between them would be good, if you are writing a one shot. Just credit Kalla to me, ok? _**


	10. Inner Flames

**_Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers title, characters, or Zords. That all belongs to Saban Productions. I only own my OC, this particular plot, and the Master Mode form._**

The Shiba House was quiet; quite the foil to Mentor Ji's mind. Even though the Rangers had done this running off to fight evil thing for years, the urge to help and the worry never left. Pacing, Mentor's racing mind and heart finally reached an impass as he heard the gates finally open. Sighing with relief, Mentor ran out the doors, trying to wipe the worry from his face. However, what he saw wasn't desirable. Mia and Kevin were racing ahead from their friends, Lauren holding up Kalla by her arm as the other wrapped around her middle. Mike was assisting her in half carrying the stumbling Samurai, as Emily walked next to the Green Ranger, her eyes red and stained with tears. Jayden emerged last, his eyes blank.

Mentor rushed past Kevin and Mia as they reached him, each spouting something but Mentor suddenly saw blood staining Kalla's shirt. He ran forward and the procession met him halfway, and only then did he hear ragged gasps coming from Kalla. Mentor instantly sprang into action. "What happened?" he demanded, as he led the Rangers inside. Lauren looked on the brink of tears, Mia buried her face in Kevin's shoulder and Emily's eyes were dull. But the Yellow Ranger managed to speak. "She tried to protect Jayden and all of us," she whispered.

Kalla cried out weakly as Mike helped her settle down in the infirmary, and only then did something spark in Jayden's eyes. He lunged for Mike, ripping him away from Kalla. "What did you do?" he shouted, anger clear in his voice.

Mike shrugged off his leader and glared at him. "Dude, I was just trying to help her!" he yelled back. Jayden's eyes blazed, and he looked ready to hit Mike, but a voice split the air.

"Stop it!" Kalla cried, ignoring the pain erupting from her wound. She was laying against propped pillows and looked so helpless. "This won't help any of you. You have to focus on the task at hand with Sicarius and figure out how to beat him, " she groaned and clutched her side. Mentor was by her at once. "All of you; out. I have to help her as best I can,"

Jayden stepped forward. "No, Kalla's part of the team. We figure this out together, "

Kalla suddenly glared at Jayden. "I told you, don't focus on me! Get out of here and make a plan!"

Jayden looked as though he had been torn open. But he didn't protest any further. When he and Rangers left the room, Kalla shuddered and let out a shaking sigh. She began to convulse slightly, and Mentor looked up about to ask her what was wrong, but he stopped himself when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Mentor, why is this happening? Why am I so…. Sad all the time now? I'm stronger than this! I should be stronger than this!" Kalla sobbed.

Mentor reached up and touched her shoulder. "Kalla," he paused and then found the right words. "You may think the strong never cry. But, people cry because they have been strong for too long. All that you have found with us, is shared strength and that's why you cry. It's a relief not to bear the burden of the WereDemons alone, isn't it?"

Kalla looked at him, and nodded. She gasped as Mentor removed her hand holding her wound. "Kalla, I have to see it,"

Kalla closed her eyes and removed her hand, feeling darkness battle with her mind. Mentor got some scissors and gently and carefully cut open the side of Kalla's shirt. The last thing the White Ranger remembered, was hearing Mentor's gasp of horror when he saw the hole in his pupil's side.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Mia paced back and forth, her mind racing. To calm herself, she tried to remember recipes that she had been taught. The ingredients kept slipping from her, and she was panicking all the more. Jayden was sitting on the green cushion square, just staring into space while Lauren scribbled away furiously at a drawing pad. Mike was going through poorly formed martial arts movements and Emily was outside playing her flute. Kevin and Antonio were just leaning against the walls, struggling to help Jayden think of a plan. Jayden himself got to his feet.

"Ok, let's make a list of what we know so far,"

Mia smiled, glad for the distraction. "We know that he has incredible speed and accuracy,"

Mike stepped forward. "He has a freaky sword," Lauren looked up sharply.

Antonio spoke. "He seemed to rely on the shadows,"

Kevin looked at the Red Ranger cautiously. "He was after you,"

Mia spoke again. "When he landed the blows, he seemed to grow stronger,"

Lauren suddenly shouted. "HIS SWORD!" Her face was excited and she scribbled madly at the pad in her hands. Mike looked at her weirdly. "Yeah, it's weird. So?"

Lauren threw the pad aside. "Don't you see? It's the _sword_! He must have been able to absorb our symbol power from it, and that's how Sicarius got stronger! And since Kalla was actually wounded, she got absorbed the most!"

Jayden perked up. "If we can somehow separate him from his sword, we might be able to stop him, and help Kalla!" The Rangers looked around each other. Jayden's face fell. "But, if he's like any warrior, if we can make him drop the sword, he'll no doubt go after it again,"

Kevin nodded. "So, we just have to destroy him after we destroy the sword,"

Jayden shook his head. "He would just use his speed and pick it back up again," he paused and his face looked as though he was amazed. "Unless…"

Lauren stepped forward. "Jayden?"

Jayden shook his head. "It's nothing,"

Suddenly, the Gap Sensor rang through the House. Lunging for the table, Jayden opened the map and saw a small red dot in the old forest just west of the House. Jayden and the other nodded and ran out the doors, the leader of the Rangers harboring a dark secret in his heart.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

A dark forest, with the looming thunderheads softly booming in the distance, only challenged by the ever shifting reflections in the lake below. That was the sight Sicarius found greeting him when he ionce more managed to teleport into the human world. "These woods are ideal. Dark and filled with shadows and fear," Sicarius hissed. The Dolums were too frightened of this creature, so he had come to work with shadows over the centuries. He turned as seven pairs of feet thundered in the forest. Each already wore their spandex and only two were felt the twinges of fear for the first time in his life when he saw the White Ranger wasn't with them. "Ah, so you've come to cross swords once again, Rangers," hissed the assassin of the WereDemons.

Jayden pointed his sword tip at the creature. "Yes. We won't let you destroy any more lives, or take over our planet!"

The creature began to laugh, a sound like scraping metal with his deep bass of a voice. The Rangers winced internally when this WereDemon laughed, but they had to show no fear.

"You see, Red, in this portion of the woods, the lands is almost covered in shadow. The Shadows make me strong and give me my speed. I have to kill you not because you're the Red Ranger, but because you are Fire, and Fire gives light! Nothing personal!" Sicarius laughed again, and the Rangers looked around.

"He's right, Jayden," Mia said. "This forest is really dark. If we prolong this battle, it might get ugly for us,"

Sicarius continued to speak. "But, since King Tenebris wants all of you dead, I guess I can do my King a favor, and rid all of you from existence!"

Jayden saw the WereDemon begin to shine, and he ducked. Kevin followed his leader's lead, rolling away from the others. The rest of the Rangers weren't as lucky, falling victim to another round of super speed attacks. Once Sicarius finished, Mike and the others collapsed, smoking but still in Samurai form. "Man!" Mike exclaimed,"That _hurts_," he groaned softly at the end as if to prove his point.

Antonio nodded. "Yeah. It's worse than a thankful of jellyfish!" he moaned. Jayden and Kevin's backs pressed against each other, and they quickly made surveys of the area.

"How can you take me down if the shadows strike for me?" taunted the WereDemon. Jayden gritted his teeth, waiting for any sign of the creature in the air around them. Kevin saw him before he struck – and threw himself in front of Jayden. The creature's sword sparked across Kevin's chest, but he rolled and groaned for a few moments. Staying on the ground, Kevin felt his power diminished greatly.

Lauren saw her brother alone, and stood, stumbling to his side. She got back to back with him.

Jayden sensed his sister's presence and quietly spoke. "Lauren, get out of here. You're hurt and-"

"Oh save it," she muttered. "You and I both know we have a better chance as two rather than one,"

Jayden smiled beneath his helm, a warmth growing through his heart. "Thanks," he breathed softly. Mike slowly stood, and with Antonio right behind him, joined the circle of the two Rangers, back to back. Mia and Emily stood and joined them, stumbling the whole way. Emily turned her head and spoke.

"Mia, Lauren; let's use the disks that Kalla gave us," she reached into her belt buckle and withdrew the golden disk. Mia and Lauren nodded. They too reached into their belts and pulled out the disks. Jayden turned to the guys, not intending to be outdone.

"Let's follow their lead, guys," Jayden withdrew the TigerDisk, Mike the Beetle, and Kevin took out the SwordfishDisk. Antonio took a special disk, the OctaDisk, and attached it to his Barracuda Blade as the Rangers attached their own special disks to their Spin Sword hilts.

Suddenly, Lauren spun her disk. "Spin Sword! Cougar Claw!" she yelled. She struck her sword down, and a wave of whiteish blue fire exploded from her disk and slammed into a pseudo Sicarius. Lauren murmured an "uh oh" under her breath. "Guys! Sicarius can create duplicates! Watch out!" Mike suddenly yelled as he spun his own disk; "Spin Sword! Beetle Attack!" the wave of concentrated forest energy slashed through another duplicate Sicarius. Kevin and Mia both saw a Sicarius. "Spin Sword! Swordfish Slash!" "Spin Sword! Panda Roar!" the two energized blasts hit a solid object and in the one of the brief flashes of light in the forest, the Rangers saw Sicarius fall. He shimmered and disappeared.

Jayden nodded. "Ok, we know we hit him – Spin Sword! Tiger Fang!" "Barrucuda Blade! Octa- Sting!" the Gold Ranger and the Red Ranger's attacks slammed into yet again the WereDemon. He hissed in annoyance and spoke as he disappeared. "I will get you eventually, Red!"

Emily slowed her breathing and concentrated on the power within her, the vibrations of the Earth. Around her, she heard her friends' voices attacking duplicates and, on occasion, the real Sicarius, but she suddenly felt the energy spike from her new disk. Her eyes bursting open, Emily spun her disk and yelled, putting more power in her attack than ever before: "Spin Sword: Seismic Orangutan Punch!" she gave the sword a downward stroke, and the earth not only rumbled and sprayed debris, but a powerful energy wave surged through the air – slamming into Sicarius, and Emily saw something flash away from the WereDemon.

"Guys! He's lost his sword!" she shrieked. But Jayden suddenly became a blur. He arched through the air, and suddenly, he was restraining the Demon, his Spin Sword like a buckle around the creature's waist and he was pushing his heels into the dirt.

"I've got him!" Jayden grunted. Before anyone could say anything, Sicarius shrieked and let loose lightning from his fingertips at the Samurai Rangers. They yelled in surprise and stumbled. Emily, from lack of energy, demorphed and fell to her knees, besides an unconscious Mike and Mia. Jayden's panicked voice became clear over the aftermath of the explosions.

"Guys!"

Sicarius laughed. "Now, you'll have to release me to attack me, and then I will have free range to kill you!"

"No way! Not gonna happen!"

"What are you gonna do then," the WereDemon taunted.

Jayden gave no answer, but his whole body began to glow.

Emily looked at her leader in confusion. "Jayden?" she called to him. Lauren sat up. "What is he doing?"

Kevin groaned and looked up. "He's converting his Symbol Power into his skin!" the Blue Ranger gasped.

Before Emily could ask what that meant, she heard Sicarius scream. "You're insane! You maniac! Blowing yourself up won't do anything!" Jayden's only visible response was his continued glow strengthening. Then, without warning, he yelled and his inner light became extremely bright, shrinking all shadows – but also blinding his friends. They gasped in sock and covered their eyes from the glare. Then, noise stopped, the light contracted back into Jayden – and thrust outwards.

"No!" Sicarius and the Samurai Rangers cried. The explosion rocked the forest, and the Rangers felt the wind whip past them; the skies howled as thunder crackled across the sky.

The light receded and the Rangers – the ones who were conscious in any case - carefully peeked out from under their hands. Jayden was still standing – and he looked changed. His red uniform was shining copper and scarlet, the underlying red shimmering. His helmet looked off and he was holding a long, flaming staff in his right hand. Turning to his friends, Jayden held up his other hand – revealing a brand new Disk and Zord.

Emily laughed, bubbling. "Jayden!" she cried, joy searing through her. Lauren stood and ran weakly to her brother's side, yelling "Jayden! You've got the Master Mode Power!"

The Red Master Ranger nodded, and when he spoke, Emily could hear a smile in his voice. "It's incredible guys…. The Power, this feeling.., the Zord," Jayden's head shook and he jogged halfway to his team, his uniform glowing like flames in the dim light.

Emiyl smiled and she scrambled and began to shake Mike. "Mike! Mike, get up! Jayden's got the Master Power!"

Mike groaned and he shifted, but his eyes tightened. Emily smiled and sang in a taunting voice, "Call of Duty is burning in the PS3," Mike instantly shot up, saying, "I'm awake!"

Kevin groaned and sat up with Mia's aid and Antonio was staring wide eyed at his childhood friend.

Jayden smiled and looked down at the disk in his hand. "This, guys, is the Fire Dragon disk," he murmured softly. He turned slightly to Kevin. "Don't worry, it's almost nothing like yours,"

Kevin smiled. "Have fun trying to control it then!"

The Rangers, all now conscious, gave a painful, but heartfelt laugh together. Lauren went off and scooped up the Sword of the WereDemon, and as one team, they headed back to the Shiba House, Jayden unsure of how to demorph.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

When the Rangers entered the house that night, silence greeted them. Ji was possibly in the infirmary with Kalla, so the Ranger headed there, an embarrassed Jayden the subject of their joking when he had finally figured out how to demorph. When they entered the room, Ji was sitting beside Kalla's beside, but his elbows were on his knees, and he looked a little somber. Kalla was laying on the bed, her eyes closed and her breathing extremely shallow. Ji looked up when Lauren entered the room carrying the sword in her hands. The others hung back, Jayden unsure whether he should come in or not. Kalla turned slightly and wheezed a name.

Lauren turned and looked at her little brother. Jayden instantly understood and was in the room as fast as he could. He knelt by Kalla's side.

"Kalla?" he whispered, touching her hand. To his horror, Jayden pulled away in shock. Kalla's right had was icy, and clammy. Ji looked at his young pupil. "She was slowly slipping a few minutes ago. Now, she's silent and weak, Jayden. Don't be surprised if her body has started to withdraw to keep her heart beating," Jayden nodded, and took the hand in his own again. Lauren lingered, and she drew the sword. A high ringing noise filled the air, and the sword hovered just over Kalla's side, the hilt still tightly in Lauren's hand.

Kalla's eyes slowly closed and she swallowed. Her face serene and calm, she nodded once.

Lauren pressed the sword against Kalla's skin.

Seconds later, shouting filled the air.

***MASTER MODE POWER!***

Thunder crackled against the sky that night. The House slept peacefully under the clouds, blacker than they normally would have been because of the storm. Jayden's eyes burst open when a particularly loud crash of thunder filled the air around him. Gasping, Jayden shook his head and rubbed his face. After a moment's hesitation, he threw the covers aside, and his feet found the cold wooden floor. Following the memories of his childhood, he expertly traced steps into the infirmary. Glancing in the room, only a messy bed stared back at him. Nothing registered for a moment, and then Jayden just turned and continued on into the kitchen. There was a soft glow from the inside, and Jayden entered the room, instantly awake.

Kalla sat at the counter, a glass of milk in her hands, and her eyes tired. But when she realized who it was, Jayden's heart warmed when he saw her own eyes soften and warm to him, her lips pulling into a fun smile.

Jayden walked over and sat next to her. Kalla blushed momentarily, and then took a sip of her milk. "Can't sleep?" she whispered.

Jayden shook his head. "The thunder woke me up,"

Kalla smirked. "Scared of a little lightning?"

Jayden met her gaze evenly. "Nah. My favorite weather is a blizzard," he teased. Kalla nudged him friendly-like with her elbow and took another sip. She looked at her hands around the glass and smiled. It was the smile she had made when they had connected for the first time that one night under the stars. "I'm really glad for what you did, Jayden," she turned to him, her eyes clear.

"I am,"

Jayden blushed and looked down at his folded hands on the counter. "Anything to help a friend," he said. Kalla looked down. "I….I'm sorry for pushing you away,"

Jayden shook his head. "I understand why you did it,"

Kalla shook her head. "That doesn't make up for it. From now on, I am going to be as honest with you as I possibly can, Jayden,"

Jayden smiled and slipped off his stood. "I'd like that,"

Kalla smiled and looked at her milk glass once more, her cheeks and ears turning pink. Jayden smiled, and before he knew what he was doing, he had reached out and held her in his arms. To his surprise, she was too, hugging tightly. Jayden tightened his grip on her as well, almost as if they were trying to become one being. Kalla and he pulled away, and Jayden tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and his hand continued until he was cupping her head.

"Why do you try to protect me?" he asked, an unknown pain entering his chest.

Kalla looked into his hazel eyes with her wet pale blue ones, and covered his hand on her head with her own. "Because, I…. I…I have to," there was a desperate need in her voice. Jayden's throat tightened, and he pulled her towards him gently. Kalla stretched up, and their lips found each other. Kalla's heart warmed instantly, and she felt herself promising something; she wouldn't run away anymore. She would find a way to be with Jayden, to hell with Tenebris's curse upon her.

Jayden was transfixed by her lips on his, and he felt himself wishing things could be like this forever. As he pulled away, and pulled her close for a final hug, he knew in his heart that that was impossible while evil was in the world.

**Phew! Another quick update…. I love Memily, Kia and Jalla! :D **

**Please, I would love to hear what you guys think of the couple(s)!There WILL be a Zord fight next time! The more reviews, the faster I update! ;D Please, I would love to hear what you guys think of the couple(s)! Please, I would love to hear what you guys think of the couple(s)!**


	11. Nightmare of the Earth

**Uhm….hi there everyone! Sorry for the major delay, but I recently was caught up in a bunch of other projects with my dA account – all of them Fanfics. Ahem, anywho, I haven't forgotten about this fanfic, so here ya go! The Next Chapter of Power Rangers Samurai: Master Mode Power!**

Morning sunlight filtering through the windows of the Shiba House, Kalla stretched miserably, having another night of merely tossing and turning in her bed. Luckily, she was without a roommate, so she didn't disturb any of the others. When the White Ranger neared the kitchen, she was about to enter, when hands reached out from behind her and yanked her back. Now wide awake, Kalla shoved her elbows roughly into someone's abs. However, when that someone grunted, she whirled her head around.

"Antonio! What's the big idea!" she growled. However, Mike, Emily, Jayden and the wincing Antonio all shushed her. Jayden smiled and then pointed inside the kitchen. Kalla gave him a hard glare and then peered into the kitchen, instantly slapping her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hold her gasp of joy and shock.

Kevin was smiling nervously as he spoke to Mia, the Pink Ranger blushing profusely. She was nodding as he spoke to her in hushed tones. Mia said something, and he blushed then, one hand scratching the back of his hand. He smiled and nodded, and she suddenly took a hesitant step forward, kissing his cheek. Kalla, instantly stepped away from the door, feeling so rude to be intruding, but she turned to the others and smiled to herself, feeling joyous. They all chuckled and giggled lightly at her reaction, and she couldn't help but look away from Jayden blushing as their eyes met.

Mia ran past them, not noticing her friends as she ran towards her room. Kalla smiled, and then she looked at her friends. "Wait, where's your practice clothes?"

Mike smiled excitedly. "Lauren's still sleeping, but since its Antonio's birthday, Mentor gave us the day off,"

Kalla flushed in embarrassment, her glare piercing her friends. "What, you couldn't tell me that yesterday?!"

Emily rolled her eyes, but pushed forward and grabbed Kalla's wrist. "Come on! Let's go see Mia!" Kalla laughed as Emily pulled her towards Mia's room, the Yellow Ranger skipping the whole way.

Mike turned to the kitchen, wanting to know what was happening. Jayden and Antonio exchanged a glance with each other, and Antonio shrugged and followed Mike inside. Jayden began to follow, but glanced after Kalla. The White Ranger must have somehow sensed his eyes on her, because her head lifted slightly and she turned, her blue eyes locking on Jayden's. They both knew a line had been crossed a few nights ago, when they had kissed after Jayden received the Master Power. And there was a fear in both of their eyes, wondering what would happen.

Jayden shook his head, and Kalla turned and followed Emily.

***Master Mode Power***

Mia was jumping on her toes excited as she and Emily held hands. "I can't believe it!" she squealed when Kalla entered the room.

Kalla blinked and looked at them, giggling a little. "Can't believe what?"

Mia turned to her friend. "Kevin just asked me to go out with him today!"

Kalla smiled warmly. "That's awesome, Mia! Congratulations!" Kalla however, felt awkward saying it. She wasn't all that close with either Kevin or Mia; the White Ranger had mostly bonded with Emily, Jayden, Lauren, and Mike. The others still didn't seem to trust her, and she was scared of that, but also relieved. _The less people I have to push away, the better._

Mia smiled and quickly ran to her meager closet. "We're going to see a movie. We don't know which one yet, but I really wanna look pretty,"

Emily smiled. "Just put on something pink and those dark skinny jeans!" the Yellow Ranger suggested. "You're pretty and strong. No wonder Kevin likes you…" her voice trailed off as her smile faded.

Both the Pink and White Rangers glanced at Emily. Mia stepped forward, her face filled with concern. "Is something wrong?"

Emily looked up. "I just hoped that, after Xandred, I could be strong like the rest of you. But, for some reason, I'm still the one who needs the most help,"

Kalla straightened in confusion. "Emily, you're the Ranger of the Earth. No one is as strong as your element. The Earth symbolizes growth, and stability, both are qualities which you proudly display,"

Mia paused and turned to Kalla. Maybe, just maybe, she was truly beginning to understand what it meant to be a Ranger.

Emily smiled. "You really mean that?" she said, unable to really comprehend that those words had just come from Kalla.

The White Ranger looked embarrassed as she reached up to scratch the back of her head. "Well, yeah," she said sheepishly. "Every word I say is the truth," _And what I don't say, is often protected by lies and secrets._

Suddenly, Jayden appeared in the doorway. "Come on, Kalla. Mentor wants us to practice a few things with the Master Power,"

Kalla sighed. "But, he gave us the day off, right?" she whined.

Jayden smiled and took a step forward, taking her hand. Neither Jayden nor Kalla saw the shock come into Mia's and Emily's eyes at the simple gesture. "Come on," he said, half laughing as he tugged her from the room. Kalla pouted the whole way, but walked with him, slightly pulling her hand back from his grip.

***Master Mode Power***

Kevin smiled as he watched Jayden and Kalla spar. It was how swordsmanship should look. The two danced around each other, their swords flying as if they were merely another part of their bodies, gracefully trying to assert dominance over their opponent. The White Ranger was incredible, using her superior flexibility to outwit the blows Jayden threw at her, while the Red Ranger's speed and strange gift for making up attacks and defenses on the spot as she threw her own strange fighting style at him.

Kevin leaned towards Mentor. "Mia and I will be leaving in about an hour for the movies, is that ok?"

Mentor, to the Blue Ranger's surprise, smiled exasperated. "Kevin, it's about time you got some guts and asked her on a date. I'm rpoud of you. And yes, it's ok,"

Kevin began to stutter, trying to put a good excuse together. But he just smiled and Mentor began to chuckle, turning back to the fight. Jayden left his chest exposed for a blow, and Kalla made the swing to slap her sparring stick across the Shogun's chest.

However, her eyes instead widened as pain exploded behind her eyes, and she cried out, missing the Red Ranger and following her blow to the ground, rolling for a moment, before she paused, groaning in pain as she clutched at her left arm.

Jayden was instantly by her side, helping her sit up as she began to whimper in pain. Mentor quickly moved from Kevin's side to the White Ranger's side. She screamed in a short burst of pain, as huddled to herself, as if trying to ride out pain.

"Kalla?" Jayden asked worriedly, and Kevin stared at his friend in amazement at the amount of concern in the Red Ranger's voice.

Mentor spoke sternly. "That's enough for today. Come, Kalla. I'll give you an ice pack for your injury," ]

Kalla only nodded in response, standing with the two men helping her to her feet. Mentor wrapped on arm around his pupil's shoulders, hsupporting her as she hobbled slightly out of the indoor dojo. Lauren came running around the corner. Kalla raised her face to the blonde. She gasped out the Female Red's name, and Lauren instantly nodded and was at Kalla's side, and the three went to the kitchen.

Jayden walked over to Kevin, confusion written clearly on his face. "Did you see anything happen?"

Kevin shook his head. "Maybe she pulled something in her arm when she took that swing?" he suggested, but he was doubtful.

Suddenly, the Gap Sensor went off. Jayden and Kevin quickly ran to the Gap Map, as did the others a little less quickly.

Jayden tapped the table, and the virtual map expanded, a red blip appearing downtown. They glanced around as Mentor ran into the room.

"Jayden, it'll have to be you five, and Antonio. Lauren and I will stay here with Kalla as she recuperates,"

Jayden nodded. "Let's go!" he commanded, leading the charge downtown.

Mia and Kevin locked eyes just before they took off after Jayden. They sighed and ran after their leader.

It was always on a day off.

***Master Mode Power***

Harold wasn't sure what to do. He had moved his family from Angel Grove to Paranorma City because it was safer. However, here they were faced with the same problems; Monsters! He gathered his family in a sweep of his arms, and stumbled along with the others as they ran. However, there was an infantile cry, and Harold's head whirled around to see his young, two year old daughter wailing as she sat under their table. He instantly ran against the people, trying to reach her.

Then, the monster appeared. He was the colors of the earth, ugly grayish browns mixed with rich and healthy black browns. His face resembled that of a disheveled wolf, with a snarling muzzle, and menacing golden eyes. He walked on two legs, his hands long and clawed as his body was the half of a human, some of the muscles showing hideously. He raced around the corner, smaller ugly gray wolves following him.

Harold's eyes widened, and he tried to get to his daughter, but a passing person accidentally hit him sharply in the head, knocking him backwards and off his feet. His head crashed to the ground, and he cried out sharply. He rolled slowly, his vision blurry and flickering. He saw his daughter, and the wolf things closing in.

Suddenly, there was a confident yell. "Spin Sword! Seismic Swing!" and the ground exploded around the wolves. Six bodies appeared, each a different color. The Pink one ran to his daughter and swept the little girl in her arms. She quickly ran to Harold and helped him to his feet. She handed him his daughter, and spoke.

"Go! We'll take care of this!"

Harold nodded gratefully, and ran with his daughter.

The Rangers faced off with the creature, who for some reason had seemed unaffected by Emily's attack. Jayden was in the standard uniform, not sure of whether of not he should use the Master Mode just yet.

The WereDemons let out a low chuckle, his voice sounding like the shifting of lava. "Hello, Rangers! So nice to see you all, but I only have one of you I'm after!"

Jayden almost sighed in relief, glad Kalla hadn't come. He quickly stepped forward. "Enough! You aren't claiming another Ranger!"

The WereDemon chuckled maliciously. "Salubum takes whomever he wishes! And, Yellow Ranger! You're mine!" he leaped with frightening speed and tugged Emily down as the two Rolled. He let go of the Yellow Samurai mid roll, sending her flying a few more feet.

Mike turned in fear. "Emily!" he yelled.

Salubum turned. "Dolums! Attack!"

Before the Rangers could surge forward to help their friend, they were surrounded by the vicious gray foot soldiers. Mike quickly stepped up his game, needing to help Emily. Slashing this way and that, the Green Ranger slowly lost technique as he attacked and hacked away at the wolfish fiends.

Emily however, was having trouble. This WereDemon was so much stronger than any of the Nighlok they had ever fought. He lashed out a vicous paw, slashing down Emily's chest. The Yellow Ranger cried out, but th cut was followed by another and another. She couldn't dodge or defend herself – he was too fast! The WereDemon gave a particularly strong attack, and she flew backwards, demorphing midair.

Emily landed roughly on the ground. She coughed as the air was knocked from her lungs. She struggled to stand as the creature neared, one clawed hand pointing at her.

"Is that all it takes? I didn't even use a powered attack! I guess the Spirit of the Earth isn't as strong as it once was!" with that he charged

Emily closed her eyes, not wanting to scream.

Mike saw what was happening. "Emily!" he screamed. He gave a powerful attack to the Dolum and quickly ran towards the WereDemon. With an angry yell, Mike swung for the WereDemon's side, sending a powerful shockwave of Forest Energy into the WereDemon's side. The creature followed the path of Mike's swing and went backwards through the air about ten feet for so. It snarled as he rolled, smoking.

The others quickly regrouped around Mike. The Green Ranger glance dover his shoulder at the Yellow. "You ok?" he asked.

Emily swallowed thickly and nodded, struggling to push herself up. Antonio was by her side, helping her stand.

Jayden stepped forward, bringing out his new Morpher. It was the same as the Samuraizer, but it had a coppery, fire sheen to it. On it, there was the proud golden symbol of Fire. "Enough of this! Samurai Master Mode!" he drew the symbol in the air, and when completed, it melted into his chest. Flame colored symbols ran up his legs and arms, leaving behind a shimmering new armor. His gloves held a slight golden glow, and his boots had the same effect. His helmet's visor stayed the same, the symbol of the Red Ranger, but the smooth mask melted away to reveal a snarling Dragon's head.

He quickly pulled a new disc from his belt and placed it on his Spin Sword's hilt. "Master Samurai, Ready!"

The WereDemon spoke. "Ready? How about _now_?!" he brought a clawed hand to his face, and then shot out to them, green lightning spewing from his finger tips. Jayden rolled, and dodged the attack.

The attack struck the other Rangers, and they cried out as the electricity crackled across their bodies. Antonio and Mike threw themselves in front of Emily, protecting her from the attack, but they fell.

"Mike! Antonio!" she cried out, falling to her knees as she placed her hand on Mike's shoulders. The WereDemon chuckled as Jayden charged. The Red Ranger brought his Spin Sword over his head and slashed his opponent. The Monster spun from the attack, but then merely shoved Jayden aside ungratefully, and ran for Emily, one clawed hand extended.

"You're mine!" he snarled. "And there isn't anything anyone can do about it!"

"Back off! Spin Sword, Icy Fang!" there was a wave of pure white energy and it slammed into Salubum's body, sending him backwards a few steps. A silvery body landed in front of Emily.

Kalla stood, her Master Mode gleaming brightly in the sun. "Leave her alone!"

**Sorry it's not all that long, but with Writer's Block, it was a B**CH to write this...hope you like it. **

**Oh sh**. Things be getting serious! Why is this Monster after Emily? Are the other Rangers really ok? Are Kalla and Jayden enough to destroy this monster? Or will another Ranger with the Master Power be the edge they need? STAY TUNED!**


End file.
